"19 drivers in the paddock will think that they will not win the championship," says Fernando Alonso as he tips Max Verstappen to continue title-winning streak.

Though Ferrari topped the timesheets this week, with Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez a lowly fifth and sixth, while those ahead of them were using the softest of the Pirelli compounds, the Red Bull pair stuck resolutely with their yellow-banded mediums, both around 0.8s off the pace.

The majority of the paddock is in agreement that Red Bull still has an advantage over its rivals, the big question being, how much?

As far as veteran Alonso is concerned, it's over before it's even begun.

"I don't have a crystal ball to know what the others are doing," he told reporters. "But Max is the world champion and Red Bull is dominating the sport, also, the concept that they presented this year, it's also a surprise.

"At the moment, we just have to watch them and see how they perform," he added. "I think 19 drivers in the paddock now will think that they will not win the championship. It happens 99% of the time in your career. This is a brutal sport.

"After seeing Max and the Red Bull car this year, there are less chances for everybody to win a race this year," the Spaniard continued. "But this is how it is."

"I think Red Bull clearly are out in the distance," agreed Lewis Hamilton.

Asked if the RB20 is better than its predecessor, which won all but one of last year's races, Verstappen laughed: "If it would have been worse then we did a very bad job!" he told reporters on the final day of the test.

"For sure the car is better than last year's car," he continued, "but I think everyone on the grid has a better car than last year. The team believes with how the car is at the moment there is more potential to find. That's now for us to unlock."

Check out our Testing galleries from Bahrain, here.