Apr.16 (GMM) Felipe Massa agrees that Renault seems to have taken a step forward at the Barcelona test.

The Ferrari driver has also been running at the Circuit de Catalunya this week, where on Tuesday Fernando Alonso was at the controls of a visibly updated R28.

Renault has endured an uncompetitive start to the 2008 season, but Alonso appears to have narrowed the gap to the frontrunners ahead of next weekend's Spanish grand prix at the same circuit.

"Renault has improved a little," Massa agreed to the Spanish newspaper Diario AS. "Now we must wait until the grand prix to draw a clearer conclusion."

The 26-year-old Brazilian, however, is sure that the order at the very top of the grid will remain unchanged in Spain, and he is even somewhat dismissive of BMW-Sauber's apparent arrival as a top team.

"Of our rivals, I think McLaren is a strong team that always gets better throughout the season," he said.