It was unequivocally Red Bull's day at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Their biggest talk now is to ensure they retain the services of winner Daniel Ricciardo beyond 2018, as he once again proved in Shanghai he is the master of overtaking.

However, regardless of what the future has in store for the Australian, the team's future looks bright.

That's the view of Fernando Alonso, who was evidently impressed - and a little envious - of Red Bull's engineering.

The 36-year-old came seventh this time around, sitting sixth overall in the world championship.

The Spaniard passed the finish line a whole 30 seconds behind Ricciardo, but he has been inspired rather than frustrated and would like to see McLaren replicate Red Bull's success.

What do McLaren need to do? 

"It showed us the potential of the power unit and it gives us good motivation that with this power unit we will be able to fight if we do a good job on the chassis side," said Alonso, per Autosport.

"We are not quite there yet. We need to close that gap and we need to work harder on the chassis side.

"We know that we have to improve, no doubts. We can't hide that.

"But at the same time we are doing our job on Sundays and scoring as many points as possible for the team.

"So far great Sundays, but we need to keep improving the car. We are not quite yet in the top group."

Mercedes were also surpassed by Red Bull, with Valtteri Bottas finishing in second and Lewis Hamilton in fourth.

Last year's champion had Max Verstappen to thank for coming as high as he did in the standings, with the 20-year-old having been penalised by 10 seconds for causing a collision with Sebastian Vettel.

That incident might have put a slight damper on proceedings for Red Bull with Verstappen coming in for widespread criticism. Such was Ricciardo's success, however, that they have chiefly received deserved admiration for Sunday's race.

Do you agree with Alonso? Have your say on the Chinese GP in the comments.