FERNANDO ALONSO is in the hustle and bustle of Shanghai this week, before the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, sporting a carefully trimmed goatee and moustache. If you ask him about it, he instinctively strokes his chin and laughs in a typically self-effacing and slightly embarrassed way.

“I just forgot to shave when I was at home,” the man who is fighting tooth and nail to stop Michael Schumacher stealing the Spaniard’s second consecutive World Championship title as the Formula One season reaches its climax, said.

The new look suits Alonso and gives him a bit of steel, even a swashbuckling air. It is not a bad image for the polite young man from Asturias who is not only fighting the might of a rejuvenated Ferrari team led by the most successful driver in the sport’s history (who would give anything to end his career with an eighth world title), but also what Renault and Alonso clearly believe is a concerted campaign by those who run Formula One to stop him winning.

Indeed, in Monza, Alonso was close to tears as he pronounced that, in his view, Formula One could never recover its integrity after a controversial decision by the stewards to penalise him for impeding the Ferrari of Felipe Massa during qualifying.

“I love the sport, but I don’t consider Formula One any more a sport,” Alonso said.

You may expect to find him in contrite mood in China now his ardour has cooled as he prepares to rampage round this breathtaking circuit at 190mph. But not a bit of it.

Alonso is a man of his word. “I was frustrated in Monza and I still am,” he said at Renault’s home in the giant paddock here. So, no regrets then? “Not at all. I said it because I felt that — it’s a very rare occasion that I say something that I regret afterwards. If I say something, it’s because I really believe that it’s the truth.”

He added that he could think of at least a further nine incidents this year alone when he believes Renault were unfairly treated by the powers that be.

Even if Formula One is “not a sport”, Alonso remains determined to win this year and to do so cleanly against a man who has buckled competitively and morally when under pressure. Alonso has said that he does not fear that his duel with Schumacher over the final three races will end up getting “dirty”, but he is certain of one thing and that is that he will not be breaking the rules.

He talked of the moral influence of his parents and his belief in professionalism and fair play, which goes back to his childhood in Oviedo, before he started racing in go-karts. “When I play any game, when I was a child and when I do now, I can lose 20 times but I cannot do any strange things to win,” the 25-year-old world champion said.

Alonso’s problem is about trying to stop the Ferrari tidal wave overwhelming him. Having led the championship all year and having won six of the first nine races, Alonso has been through a rough patch, with no wins in the past six outings, while Schumacher has won four times. The upshot is that, having led the championship by 25 points three months ago, Alonso is two points ahead with only races in Japan and Brazil to come after the one in China this weekend.

The view is that Schumacher may be unstoppable, but Alonso sees it differently. He has pointed out that he might have won in Hungary last month had a tyre not fallen off and he was heading for third place in Monza when his engine blew.

He believes that his car and its Michelin tyres will go well at this circuit and at Suzuka and Interlagos, and he hopes to have the title wrapped up by the race in Suzuka in ten days’ time. “We should be very quick, very competitive in these last races and we should be able to keep the advantage and win both championships [drivers and constructors],” Alonso said.

Does he lie awake at night fretting about what might have been and what may happen? “No, no I don’t wake up at night worrying about the championship,” he said. “I feel relaxed and very comfortable.”