Lewis: Fast Red Bull a big step ahead

Lewis Hamilton believes Red Bull should be further ahead of the rest of the pack as they the fastest car on the grid "by quite a big step".

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel claimed the first pole of the season in Bahrain and then led the race for a long period before an engine problem relegated him to fourth place. His team-mate Mark Webber was less impressive, qualifying sixth and finishing eighth in the season opener.

McLaren driver Hamilton says Vettel and Webber have had the best equipment in the field for quite some time now.

"The Red Bull is ridiculously faster than anyone else's car," the 25-year-old told reporters. "It's insane. The downforce they had on their car last year was at some points just about double what we had.

"Even at the end of the year they had so much more than us, even though we had won a couple of grands prix.

"They (Vettel and Webber) have both got the fastest car by quite a big step. They should be quite a lot further ahead in general."

McLaren's arch-rivals Ferrari were the big winners in Bahrain with Fernando Alonso leading home a 1-2 for the Italian marque.

Hamilton concedes that his team are probably on Mercedes level with Ferrari a little closer to Red Bull.

"Fernando (Alonso) I think was very quick in the race and they are obviously a little bit closer, but it's a good half second," he added.

"We are kind of on the same level as Mercedes I would say.

"We just did maybe a better job at the weekend but... it's a battle between us and Mercedes to see who can step up and improve faster and do a better job. Red Bull might have the fastest car, but if we can beat them on reliability..."

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