Alonso: McLaren's Main Target is Red Bull

Fernando Alonso insists McLaren can look further than the midfield battle as they aspire to take on Red Bull.

After the Australian Grand Prix, McLaren have proved they are in the battle as Alonso came 5th to split the Red Bull drivers.

However, McLaren were only the sixth fastest constructor, behind Red Bull and both midfield rivals Renault and Haas.

The Spaniard said: “Definitely it’s going to be better and better. There’s a lot of potential in the car still to unlock.

“It’s the first race with this combination, McLaren Renault power unit, so a lot more to come.

“Hopefully from Bahrain, we see another step forward and Red Bull will be the next target.”

Speaking directly about Red Bull, Alonso said: “Right now they’re still clearly ahead of us - they’re in that exclusive group of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

“But McLaren is willing to enter that group and in the next couple of races hopefully we forget the middle group and we look forward to that privileged three top teams.

“There is potential in the car - I cannot see any reason why we should not be there in the next coming races.

“We cannot forget that we decide to switch engines very late in the (2017) season so we had to redesign some of the parts that we already made at the rear end of the car.

“The integration between McLaren and Renault still not at 100% and in the coming races we’ll see more and more potential.”

With now less than a week until the second race of the 2018 season, Stoffel Vandoorne remains optimistic and backed up his experienced teammate.

“I’m very optimistic - we know there’s a lot coming from us.

“The partnership with Renault is still very new. That was our first race. We know that the next couple of races there’s new parts coming on the car.

“We feel that there’s some margin for progression. We know the next couple of races are crucial for us hopefully, we can bring some upgrades and improvements to the car and deliver some more performances.”