'Stubborn' Alonso still has title belief

The Spaniard, who has finished on the podium only once this year after heading into the campaign as one of the title favourites, had another tough time on home ground last weekend as he came home a lapped fifth.

But despite that setback, which came after he led the early stages of the race, and the fact that Red Bull still has the fastest car, Alonso says he is not giving up hope of a major turnaround by his team.

"We'll see," said Alonso. "For better or worse I was born stubborn and I think there is still time left, as long as you have a good car and you can beat them [Red Bull] on pure pace. Right now we don't have it and they are further in the points count, but there's a long way to go."

Alonso's poor result in Spain owed much to the fact his Ferrari did not work well on the hard compound tyre that Pirelli brought along.

But with the compounds switching to the soft and the super soft for the next race in Monaco, Alonso believes that the situation could be much better for himself.

"For the first time this season, qualifying is going to be the most important thing in Monaco. And we'll see if, with the softer tyres, we can have a bit more grip,"

He added: "I think it will be very interesting to see the cars perform in Monaco. I am reasonably optimistic for Monaco because it is a very unique venue, a unique track with a very special set-up that we use.

"There is one clear thing, we are lacking downforce and in Monaco you normally put on maximum downforce, and our maximum downforce is not enough, we are sure of that.

"But, I have more or less the same feeling as last year. We finished Barcelona with some gap to Red Bull, 1.2 seconds in qualifying, and in the race they were very easy for the win. We arrived in Monaco and they were very competitive.

"This year in Barcelona again they dominate the weekend so there is still the hope that we can repeat what happened last year and we are in Monaco competitive as well."

Alonso has also not held back in expressing his frustration at Pirelli's new hard tyre.

When asked for his feelings on the rubber, he said: "The hard ones?

"That's a great question for Pirelli, why they brought a harder tyre which lasts less than the other [hard], that degrades more than the other and is two seconds slower."