F1: Alonso: Merc/Red Bull deserve to dominate

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Fernando Alonso says the Mercedes and Red Bull Formula 1 teams "deserve" the dominant success they have enjoyed in recent seasons.

Red Bull dominated the world championship from 2010 to last year, winning four consecutive drivers' and constructors' titles, while Mercedes has won every race since radical new technical regulations were brought in for this season.

Mercedes chairman Dieter Zetsche hit back at criticisms of his marque's early 2014 dominance during the Monaco Grand Prix, and Ferrari driver Alonso, who came agonisingly close to winning both the 2010 and 2012 world titles, reckons both teams deserved their success.

"We saw Red Bull have a big advantage in the last four years and now we see a similar, or even more advantage for Mercedes, but it's the way it is," Alonso said. "Red Bull did a better job than the other teams, they deserve the championships they have.

"Mercedes is now leading both championships because they did a better job than the others – not only on the engine side, also on the car side. There are three or four teams with Mercedes engines that have the same possibilities and are one lap behind the two Mercedes."

Far from becoming disillusioned by seeing yet another team he is not driving for clean up at the front, Alonso reckons the level of performance Mercedes has attained should spur his own Ferrari team on.

"They did something good and it's a motivation for us to work better, because we know there are some other teams exploiting the new cars in a better way," he said.