Fernando Alonso has admitted his Alpine car for 2021 is "a little slow".
That is the claim of Antonio Lobato, a well-known and respected Spanish F1 broadcaster.
He told Marca sports newspaper: "Regardless of his recent accident, his age and whatever else is being said, Alonso looks like a bull. The Alpine machine seems absolutely reliable.
"I had a little chat with Fernando," Lobato added after the official Bahrain test.
"He said everything went well but that the car was a little slow and it will be difficult to get to the third part of qualifying."
Speaking to Spanish media on Thursday, 39-year-old Alonso did not deny that Alpine has work to do to get closer to the front of the grid.
"We still need to work, we still need to understand some more about the car, we still need to find the gains that we see in the factory to be unlocked on the track," he said.
"But little by little, I am happy and I’m going to enjoy the first races. I am happy to be back in the paddock and to return to Formula 1 in general.
"Hopefully it will be a good year for everyone, with a very ambitious 23-race calendar. Hopefully there will be interesting races and spectators will be allowed in the grandstands in a couple of months," Alonso added.