Fernando Alonso is firmly in George Russell's sights as Mercedes set out to make progress up the pecking order as this Formula 1 season continues.
Red Bull are already running away with both championships with Max Verstappen in lethal form and Sergio Perez going well before a "horrible" weekend in Monaco. Behind them both is Alonso who has rediscovered his best F1 form to secure five podiums from six races so far this year.
That puts him third in the drivers' standings with the two Mercedes drivers behind him. And the gap is much closer in the constructors' championship – just one point separating second-placed Aston Martin and Mercedes after last weekend's race.
The Silver Arrows introduced upgrades in Monaco and will add to them this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix. While Russell admits there is still a long way to go in terms of qualifying pace, the Brit appeared pleased with the race pace progress made by his team.
He told reporters in Barcelona on Thursday: "I think there's a big variety from Saturday to Sunday performance. I think when you look on Saturday performance, we're certainly behind Ferrari and Aston Martin when you look, and sometimes, you know, the Alpine as well.
"When you look into the Sunday performance, we're probably a little bit closer to Aston Martin." And it is Alonso's team which he is eyeing in the long term, with second place in the team standings the target for Russell and his Mercedes outfit.
He added: "This weekend will be a good test. We'd like to think we can jump ahead of Ferrari globally, close that gap to Fernando, as he is definitely pretty fast, and try to close the gap to Red Bull and get P2 in the constructors'.
Meanwhile, speaking of the upgrades introduced so far, his team-mate Lewis Hamilton admitted: "It's not the step forward that we were hoping for." But he did go on to say it was "a step in the right direction" and hinted that more progress should become evident over the next few race weekends.
He added: "When you bring upgrades, naturally you should be progressing forwards and the fact is it is an improvement, it's just not the improvement that we had dreamed of. But it's one step at a time. I don't feel any negativity towards it. I'm grateful we have it."
