Alonso leads the German by two points with three races to go, but he has not had the legs on Schumacher since the British GP in July.
And the momentum is with the seven-time world champion, who will retire from the sport at the end of the season, after he took 10 points out of Alonso’s lead when the Renault engine blew up at the last round in Italy.
The first of the season-deciding trio of races comes this weekend in China, where Alonso won in dominant fashion last year.
He said: ”At Renault we were ready for the opening races, and totally competitive: maybe we started at 95% of our maximum, while the others were at 70%.
”Now, everybody is at 98% or 99% and the performance is very, very close. We know we have the performance to win races and we need to make it happen.
”We always knew it would be very tight at the end of the championship, and I was prepared for this.
”If we do that job well and we deserve the title, then we will win.”
His view is backed up by Renault technical director Pat Symonds, who has dismissed claims that his team are a spent force in the championship.
Symonds believes that Schumacher’s poor form at Shanghai — he has never finished higher than 12th there and even collided with a fellow driver on the way to the grid last year — could play into the hands of Alonso, who he feels will handle the tension better than his adversary.
”We had a fabulous race there in 2005 when we dominated the grand prix and won the constructors’ championship,” Symonds told formula1.com.
”But what may be more significant is that Michael Schumacher had two poor races there in 2004 and 2005. That trend could continue this year.
”Throughout his career, there have been many instances of Michael not performing to his potential when he has been under pressure. And I think the pressure for him is greater than ever in these last three races.
”Previously, he always had the safety net of trying again next year, if he didn’t win. There is no ‘next year’ for him now.
”I truly do believe that Fernando handles pressure better than Michael.” – Sport365.co.za