One F1 team has 'really impressed' members of the paddock during the first Bahrain test, according to commentator Alex Brundle.
The Sakhir International Circuit has hosted the second test before the 2026 season between Wednesday and Friday.
Mercedes topped the timesheets on day three, with Kimi Antonelli finishing ahead of team-mate George Russell.
In fact, the Silver Arrows pair were the only two drivers in the field to record a lap time under one minute and 34 seconds over the three days.
Advert
But with another test in Bahrain still to come later this month, and with teams having ran different stint plans, fuel loads and tyre compounds over the past three days, it is still not clear as to which teams will arrive at the Australian Grand Prix with the quickest cars - even if Mercedes appear to be in a good position.
Brundle, who was a co-commentator on the Bahrain test for Sky Sports F1, says a lot of the talk in the paddock has not been about Mercedes, but Red Bull.
He explained that 'many' in the paddock believe that Red Bull have set the 'benchmark' for others to follow in Bahrain.
"So much of a discussion point about this Red Bull, and how strong it's been over these couple of days of testing," Brundle said.
"It's been really impressing the paddock, this Red Bull, and many voices in the paddock are saying it is the benchmark at the moment."
Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar topped the timesheets across the 'shakedown' test in Barcelona earlier this month, where teams were permitted to run across three of the five days.
Verstappen placed seventh across the Bahrain test, with Hadjar in 10th, but it was spotted that Verstappen in particular was experimenting with different driving styles and corner entries in an attempt to better understand how to get the most out of the new power unit regulations.
And it is the performance of their power unit, which has been designed in-house by the team - in partnership with Ford - for the first time, that appears to be concerning most of their rivals.
Speaking during day three, Mercedes driver Russell told BBC Sport: "They're [Red Bull] not just a small step ahead.
"You're talking in the order of half a second to a second in deployment over the course of a lap. It's pretty scary to see that difference.
"And Red Bull have always delivered a very good car over the past 15 years, even when they didn't have a great engine. So, yeah, this test has been really eye-opening for a lot of us.
"The truth is, Red Bull in Barcelona, day one, hit the ground running and were well ahead of all of their competitors. Ourselves, Ferrari and the others."
Topics: Red Bull Racing, Formula 1, Mercedes
Ryan Smart