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Ferrari technical boss Pat Fry has admitted that weather conditions have played a part in allowing Fernando Alonso to lead the world championship by 40 points.

While Ferrari has made remarkable progress with the F2012, allowing Alonso to win three races, Fry admits that the team still needs to find more pace in the dry.

Alonso's wins in Malaysia and Germany were assisted by rain in the race and qualifying respectively, with only his European Grand Prix victory taken in all-dry conditions. The Spaniard's fifth place after dry conditions in both qualifying and the race in Hungary before the August break is a more accurate indicator of form.

"Obviously, if it had been a completely dry race in Malaysia, it would have been a different story," Fry told AUTOSPORT. "I don't think we can hide behind the fact that the weather has helped us out.

"Do I think we're the quickest in a dry qualifying? I don't think we are now, but in the last two wet sessions [Silverstone and Hockenheim, where Alonso took both poles] it has been more impressive."

Fry, who believes that the F2012 has improved by something in the order of 1.5 seconds since the start of the campaign, puts the time deficit in the dry at several tenths at the minimum.

He has regularly underlined the need for Ferrari to make further progress in developing the car, with upgrades expected for the Belgian Grand Prix after the break, but emphasised that the team's ability to capitalise in wet conditions is not down to luck.

"We just need to keep working at it," he said. "We're fortunate to be where we are - some of that is luck with the weather but then everyone's got those conditions. They've got to go and make the most of it.

"Yes, we were helped by the weather, but then why didn't other people take advantage of it?"

For an in-depth analysis of Ferrari's turnaround, click here or read this week's AUTOSPORT magazine.