Spy saga not distracting me: Alonso

Fernando Alonso is determined not to let the ’spy’ scandal affect his bid to win a hat-trick of Formula One world titles.

Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were both withdrawn from official press duties on Thursday by McLaren, with boss Ron Dennis eager to ensure the ongoing affair does not derail their focus.

The saga has overshadowed the sport in recent weeks and will rumble on to the end of the month at least as the FIA Court of Appeal will now deliberate on matters.

However, after yesterday’s two 90-minute practice sessions ahead of tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso is adamant that what is unfolding off track is of little concern.

The reigning world champion, who set the fastest lap with a time of one minute 20.919 seconds at the Hungaroring, said: “Not for one second is anyone thinking about this matter. It is not affecting the team, not at all. I’m part of the team and we are working all the time with the engineers, the mechanics.

“They are completely focused on the race weekend, on the car, the set-up, the tyres. For the drivers, it’s very difficult to understand and to say anything. We just drive the car.

“If there are problems between the top bosses then they will do the best job for their team – the Ferrari guys for them, and for us the same.

“We simply need to win the races on the track, and we will do our best.”

The momentum appears to be with Alonso as he has closed the gap to Hamilton from 14 points to two over the last three races.

The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen are still in close attendance, just 11 and 18 points adrift respectively.

But after his barging manoeuvre on Massa to win the European Grand Prix a fortnight ago, Alonso is in a positive, bullish mood.

“One win doesn’t mean too much in terms of the championship,” added Alonso, who celebrated his 26th birthday last Sunday.

“If I can do a good job this weekend by finishing on the podium or by winning the race, it will be a good moment in the championship.

“It means I will keep the momentum going into Turkey (August 26), but then if I don’t finish here the victory at the Nurburgring will be very quickly forgotten.

“To win the championship it is all about continuity, consistency, being in the points, on the podium, and for that we will all try to do our best.

“I certainly feel more optimistic here than I did at Silverstone and Magny Cours when we saw the Ferraris were a little bit too quick for us. Here we have a chance to beat them in dry, normal conditions. Of course it depends on today’s qualifying and tomorrow’s race, but we can do it.”