Red Bull out to prove its F1 credentials at Australian GP

Despite claiming both the Formula One drivers' and constructors' championships last year, there is still an impression that Red Bull enters Sunday's season-opening Australian Grand Prix with something to prove.

Stinging from McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton's dismissal of Red Bull as a "drinks company," driver Mark Webber wants the team to join the establishment teams like Ferrari and McLaren by repeating the team's success of 2010.

"We're just a drinks company, but we had a pretty good season last year so hopefully we can build on what we did last year," Webber said Thursday.

"We've had a pretty smooth winter," he said. "Both myself and the team have put a lot of effort in - and of course also Seb (Vettel) - to make the most of the limited testing days that we had. We couldn't achieve the same mileage that Ferrari had."

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, said his team should always expect to be considered a favorite.

"If you race for Ferrari, it is not overboard to expect to be fighting for the world championship," he said. "That's the history of Ferrari and the power of Ferrari as well, and this team and the history around us is about passion, about motor racing and about winning."

The Spaniard bemoaned the length of the offseason, extended by the cancellation of the Bahrain GP.

"Since the last race of last year has been a lot of months, also these extra 15 days with the Bahrain cancellation was not the best thing," he said. "So finally we are racing again and we're very happy to be here."