Jul.27 (GMM) McLaren's drivers have admitted the urgency of eating back into Fernando Alonso's increasingly big championship lead.

After ten races - or half of the 2012 schedule - the Ferrari driver is leading his Red Bull rivals by at least 34 points.

Even Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen has more points than McLaren's highest-ranked driver, Lewis Hamilton, while Jenson Button is a huge 86 points behind.

Told it appears 'quite urgent' for him to react, the 2009 world champion admitted: "Yes, it is.

"It's a massive gap to Fernando. Fernando and Ferrari have done an amazing job over the last few races and I know how difficult it is to come back from there," Button told F1's official website.

Even Hamilton, who is a further 24 points up the road, agrees, insisting that his bad outing at Hockenheim a week ago was a championship "dent".

"It was as big a dent as you could probably take, just as Valencia was," he said.

"There are only a certain amount of dents that you can take through the year, especially when the guy who is leading has finished every race in the points."

Every driver in the FIA press conference on Thursday - Narain Karthikeyan, Kamui Kobayashi, Heikki Kovalainen, Kimi Raikkonen and Pastor Maldonado - named Alonso as the obvious championship favourite.

The Spaniard trotted out the obvious line about not counting any chickens, but reporters did manage to get him to imagine winning his third drivers' title.

"When we finished Brazil in 2006, it was a dream for me to win three world championships in my career," he said in Hungary.

"To have the same as Ayrton (Senna) had ... he was my idol or my reference when I was in go-karts and there's some other big names, Lauda etcetera, so three is a pretty good number and hopefully it arrives sooner rather than later," added Alonso.

Latest F1 News - Mobile version

26 Feb: New Ferrari not quickest in field - Domenicali 26 Feb: Red Bull still best in 2013 - Tost 26 Feb: 2014 French grand prix 'possible' - Prost 26 Feb: Danica Patrick 'not interested' in F1 switch 26 Feb: Report - Gilles Simon working on F1 engine for Honda 26 Feb: Gutierrez plays down link to Carlos Slim 26 Feb: Caterham exhaust 'legal' insists van der Garde 26 Feb: McLaren replaces Mercedes-bound Lowe 25 Feb: 'Engine maps' trouble for Red Bull, Lotus - report 25 Feb: Mercedes-bound Lowe to miss 2013 opener - report 25 Feb: Mercedes 'in group of teams' behind Red Bull - Lauda 25 Feb: Gutierrez expects Hulkenberg to beat him early in 2013 25 Feb: New Ferrari 'much better' than 2012 - Massa 25 Feb: Teams 'will adapt' to new tyre situation - Gutierrez 25 Feb: Tight rules make today's F1 cars 'the same' - Forghieri 25 Feb: Williams removes controversial exhaust trick 25 Feb: Contract 'conflicts' cause of Marussia test snub - Razia 25 Feb: Lotus to fight Red Bull for title - Gutierrez 25 Feb: Marussia 'ahead of Caterham' - Chilton 25 Feb: Sutil will not stay in F1 as test driver The latest F1 News - Mobile Version

F1 News  F1 Schedule  F1 Line-up  Constructors' Championship  Drivers' Championship  F1 Tickets  Live F1 Coverage

Full Version: Formula 1 News  Formula 1 Schedule  Formula 1 Line-up  Constructors' Championship  Drivers' Championship  Live F1 Coverage  10 'n' Pole  F1 Regulations  The Forums  Motorsport Shop  F1 Merchandise  F1 Tickets  F1 Diecast  F1 Videos  F1 Games