Vettel should not fear losing title - Alonso

Fernando Alonso thinks Sebastian Vettel should not be nervous about his championship chances.

McLaren and Alonso’s Ferrari team appear to have caught up with the earlier dominant Red Bull, but Vettel maintains a 77 point advantage with nine races to go.

"I don’t know what’s in his (Vettel’s) head," Spaniard Alonso told the EFE news agency in Hungary, "but if I was him I would not be at all nervous.

"He only needs to have fourth, fifth places until the end of the season to be champion. And I think if I had a Red Bull and I had to do fourths and fifths I would not be very worried.

"I don’t think (Lewis) Hamilton would be (worried) either," added Alonso, referring to the McLaren driver who was quickest in both of Friday’s practice sessions.

Vettel, meanwhile, played down reports he might be slowed even further by a cut on the palm of his right hand.

"It’s a small thing," said the German after television cameras spotted the bandages, "but we’re men — we like to make a fuss," Vettel joked to Bild newspaper.

The report said the 24-year-old cut his hand in Switzerland repairing a pedal on his mountain bike.

"It’s nothing, it just hurts a bit sometimes," added Vettel.