Alonso: The team I most fear is Red Bull

Fernando Alonso believes Red Bull could be a huge threat this season as they are likely to turn up in Australia with a car that is “nothing” like the one they’re testing.

Although Red Bull failed to set the timesheet alight in the opening pre-season test, there were no obvious concerns.

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were fifth and seventh on the overall timesheet, covering 372 laps between them.

However, McLaren driver Alonso reckons the Red Bull racer seen in testing won’t be the car that it is in action come the season-opening Australian GP.

“The team I most fear is Red Bull,” Alonso told Marca. “In the end, these are just test runs.

“I haven’t seen anything from Red Bull, yet.

“They always do the same thing and in Australia will have a car that is nothing like this one.

“I won’t make any predictions on how hard it’ll be to beat Mercedes because this isn’t football- it depends on the fuel load, tyres, time of day etc.”