Fernando Alonso might be leading the championship, after pulling every ounce out of his Ferrari car, but the Spaniard believes Red Bull are still the team to beat in Formula One.
Alonso sits pretty at the top with 126 points, thirteen ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber and 29 more than defending champion Sebastian Vettel. Webber won the last race at Silverstone, while Vettel looked like the man to beat at the European GP, before engine trouble ended his chances.
"Red Bull have perhaps been quicker than everybody, not just in the last two or three races, but ever since Bahrain," Fernando told Ferrari's official website.
"They missed pole position in Barcelona and Silverstone but the rest of the poles have all been Red Bull. So they are definitely a bit ahead in terms of performance and we need to catch up."
Alonso, however, admitted he was in peak condition and, barring any injuries, was confident of maintaining the high standards witnessed by everyone this season. "Physically it's my best year so far," the 30-year-old said. In previous years I've had to race with pain, whether it's in my leg or my shoulder, but so far this year it has been 100 percent in every race.
"Hopefully it will stay like this. Obviously a driver's life is not normal as we don't go to an office for eight hours so we wake up and have four or five hours of training. That's something I enjoy but yes, so far I've been in the best condition of my career."
Alonso was happy with his performances so far, and believed he was becoming a better driver every year. "In Formula 1 you are probably a better driver every year because you improve and you constantly learn from mistakes so I'm sure next year will be better," the former McLaren driver said.
"But it's true that this championship has been good for us so far. I remember a mistake in Q2 in Australia where I touched the grass in Turn 1 and I spun. But apart from that mistake I probably wouldn't change too many things about what I've done so far.
"This is good news because there are always mistakes here and there so I'm quite pleased with my performance."