Fernando Alonso has not given up hope of defying the odds and beating Max Verstappen to the Formula One world championship after he finished second at Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Alonso took the chequered flag 27.9 seconds behind Verstappen and has now secured five podiums in six races following his transfer from Alpine to Aston Martin.

The 41-year-old Spaniard will head to his home race at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya next weekend 51 points adrift of Verstappen and a dozen behind Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull.

“The championship is long and we will not give up,” said Alonso after he finished runner-up for the first time in nine years.

“Red Bull and Max are dominating every race. The Red Bull is untouchable and even with great results, we are behind them. We are relying on weekends where they have issues.

“If Max has one or two of those, then we will be a little bit closer in the championship.

“This is motorsport and anything can happen. On true pace we are not there yet, but we won’t give up.”

Alonso kept Verstappen honest throughout Sunday’s race and was holding out on old rubber in the hope that rain would arrive.

But when it did, Alonso stopped for drys believing the track would not be wet enough for intermediate tyres.

However, the downpour continued and the Spaniard was forced to come back into the pits on the next lap, scuppering any chance of claiming his first victory in a decade.

“Maybe it was extra safe but in that minute-and-a-half it took to go through Turns five, six and eight again, the track changed completely,” added Alonso.

“The lap we stopped was completely dry but on my out-lap from the pits, it was wet.

“There was a huge margin behind me to do two stops and we thought it was the right thing to do. It was a complex race to read and execute.”