Domenicali hails Alonso after German GP

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali believes Fernando Alonso is currently in the best form of his Formula One career.

It would appear a remarkable claim to make given Alonso is a double world champion from 2005 and 2006 when he brought an end to Michael Schumacher's dominance of the sport.

However, prior to his 30th career victory in Sunday's German Grand Prix, Alonso admitted last week to be in his best physical shape since he started in F1 in 2001.

It has meant the difference between Alonso being the championship leader - now 34 points to Red Bull's Mark Webber - to merely a contender.

Domenicali said: "I find it hard to remember watching from the pit wall such a tight race from the start to the chequered flag. Considering the race was 67 qualifying laps, it shows Fernando is at the peak of his personal performance. No doubt about it.

"In yesterday's race Fernando was perfect - not one mistake, not one hesitation, pushing to the maximum for an hour and a half. What a driver! He is in a great moment, and we have momentum which we need to try to keep going for as long as possible."

Despite Alonso's incredible run which has seen him finish in the points for 22 consecutive races to leave him two shy of equalling the all-time record, Domenicali is taking nothing for granted.

He said: "To see him always motivated or focused on the job, it was really good and it makes the difference when you are under pressure.

"We had a big job to improve the car, but if you see your world champion is pushing in the right way for the team to work, then that is something fundamental, and for that we thank him a lot.

"But we know we still have a lot of work to do, because we are still not the fastest. We have seen how quickly things can change this season, so we must keep concentrating to the maximum, especially on the reliability front."