Wrong.

Renault had the illegal mass damper advantage for most of the season and the results proved that. Ferrari didn't quite catch up to Renault until the ban of the said device in the French GP, but it was too little too late as Alonso has already built up a big enough lead.

Had Michael not DNF at Japan, the out come might be different, but the mass-damper advantage at the first half of the season was just too great.