Sunday 24 August at 12:03 : 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.

UK-based 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, 27, 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.