Magnussen worried Red Bull already out of Haas' reach

Kevin Magnussen is concerned that the top three teams are already out of Haas' reach this season, despite a strong start in Australia for the American outfit.

Magnussen finished in sixth-place in last weekend's season-opener in Melbourne - claiming the "best of the rest" status for Haas F1.

Despite claiming that status; the Dane was a big step back from the Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel, who concluded the race in P5 and P4, respectively.

Ferrari were almost half-a-minute ahead at the end of the race, with Red Bull Racing, and more specifically Max Verstappen, another 35 seconds ahead of the Italian team.

"It's still going to be very difficult to reach Red Bull as they're already quite a big chunk ahead of us," Magnussen admitted. "And they usually evolve and develop quite well over the season, even compared to the two other top teams of Mercedes and Ferrari."

If Magnussen is right in his prediction about the top three teams having too much for Haas - then the best him and Romain Grosjean can wish for is a fourth-place finish, which is one better than last season already.

"I think it's going to be close again, like last year," the Dane continued. "It's obviously difficult to say what the battle's going to be like for the rest of the year, but at least in Australia it was very close.