Zoom The four Renault-powered cars start outside of the top ten this afternoon in Valencia

Toro Rosso's superior Ferrari engine is powering its car clear of senior team Red Bull.

That is the view of former double world champion Fernando Alonso, who drives for Renault.

French competitor Renault also supplies engines to Red Bull Racing, whose car is almost identical to the two Toro Rosso runners, who both qualified in the top ten at Valencia.

In contrast, the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and David Coulthard are very much amid the bottom half of the grid for Sunday's European Grand Prix.

Alonso praised STR runner Sebastian Vettel's P6 in qualifying as the result of "a great deal of skill".

"But we must bear in mind that he uses a Ferrari engine and that is an advantage," the Spaniard is quoted as saying by Diario AS.

"The Red Bull and Toro Rosso cars are identical, but one is fighting for the top positions and the other, with a Renault engine, could not get past the Q2," Alonso told the Spanish newspaper.

Webber told ITV on Saturday that the Ferrari engine is worth as much as four-tenths of a second a lap over the Renault V8.

E.A, Source: GMM
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