Ferrari's Fernando Alonso has given up hope of winning this year's drivers' championship, admitting that Sebastian Vettel will win the title within the next three races.
Going into tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix the Red Bull driver, who ,a href="/formula-1/red-bull/japanese-grand-prix/result/result-webber-on-pole-in-japan_110671.html">qualified second fastest earlier today, leads Alonso by 77 points with only 125 left up for grabs in the remaining five races of the season.
The German will claim his fourth championship in a row tomorrow if he wins and Alonso finishes lower than eighth, but the Ferrari man is now focused on securing second place in the drivers' and constructors' championships.
"If [Vettel] doesn't win the championship here, he will do it in India or Abu Dhabi. It is not the most important point of the weekend," Alonso is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.
"We will not race to try to finish in the top eight to try to keep the championship alive. We will race as hard as possible to try to finish ahead of the Mercedes. That is a very important goal for us.
"If we can keep the championship open until India it will be OK but it will not change too much for us. What we want to do is score as many points as possible."
Alonso will start tomorrow's race from eighth place on the grid.
