According to Alonso, Mercedes exaggerated this year's problems

Fernando Alonso believes that Mercedes exaggerated the problems with this year's race car. The Spaniard is sure that the Silver Arrows will soon win again.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished second and third in Australian F1 qualifying, both claiming the achievement was surprising and unexpected. But Alonso, who will start the race right behind them from fourth place, believes that the Mercedes package is actually much better than we were led to believe by Mercedes.

"Judging by their comments, it seems that they have a car that is not capable of qualifying for Q3," said the Aston Martin driver about Mercedes. "The car is not as good as Red Bull's, no one has such a good car, but Mercedes is getting better and better and they will be competing for wins again this year. That was the case last year when, after a bad start, they ended up winning the race and I think they are showing their potential this year."

Compatriot Carlos Sainz also agrees with the Spaniard. "I think they are much faster than some people think. Especially in the race in Saudi Arabia, they had quite a similar rhythm to Alonso. George and Lewis were driving hard and we couldn't keep up with them, so I think their car is fast. Obviously, not like Red Bull, but if they can qualify, they have a very good package.”

Alonso hopes that the two Mercedes racers will be able to overtake Max Verstappen at the start of the Australian Grand Prix. "There will be quite a few unknowns in the race, after we were left without any other training. The temperatures will probably be quite different tomorrow than today, as the sun should be shining over the track," he added.