Rivals scoff at Alonso’s ’not favourite’ claim

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel on Thursday scoffed at Fernando Alonso’s claim he is not the runaway favourite for the 2012 title.

With Ferrari’s Alonso commanding a 40-point lead over his chasers with now less than half the season to go, the Spaniard insisted at Spa that his car is "clearly the slowest" compared to the Red Bull and McLaren.

"We have a points advantage, but a performance disadvantage, so I don’t think we are any favourite," said Alonso.

McLaren’s Hamilton smiled as he suggested his former teammate is playing an obvious psychological game.

"He would say that, wouldn’t he?" the Briton is quoted by the Express newspaper.

"He’s just positioning himself in a nice way. I could say the same thing, that our car is definitely the slowest out of the top four teams."

Reigning back to back world champion Sebastian Vettel also said Alonso is obviously the "favourite".

"He’s not leading just because someone wrote a cheque and gave him his points. He deserves to be leading," said Red Bull’s German.

"If you look at the races they (Ferrari) have been quick enough to be on the podium, win races sometimes, and that’s what matters, to have consistently strong results."