Alonso: I'm Not Cruising

The Spaniard was left in the shade by the pace of rivals McLaren during the Belgian Grand Prix - prompting speculation that he was happy just to take it easy and accept second best from the start.

But speaking on Monday, Alonso claimed that his pace in the Belgian Grand Prix was affected by handling issues on his R25 - which nearly resulted in a repeat of the high-speed accident suffered by teammate Giancarlo Fisichella at Eau Rouge.

"The car was very difficult in the high speed corners," said Alonso. "You could feel the rear end moving around a lot, and that's not what you need at this kind of circuit.

"It's strange, because the feeling wasn't there in the dry, but I had a couple of really big slides in Eau Rouge during the race. The back end stepped out, but luckily I managed to correct the car and get off the throttle.

"Blanchimont was difficult as well with this feeling in the car, so after that I was careful in the high speed sections and a little bit conservative."

Alonso only needs to finish third in the Brazilian Grand Prix to guarantee himself the title - but that has not resulted in his Renault team easing off in their bid to find speed.

Alonso will join Fisichella and test driver Heikki Kovalainen at Silverstone this week in the final big push before the last three flyaway races of the season.

The team will be working on a new aerodynamic package and will make a decision after the test about whether in introduce an upgraded engine specification, the RS25D, for the Brazilian event.