Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko remains worried an underperforming Renault engine will stop Red Bull challenging for the Formula 1 title in 2018.
The Anglo-Austrian team, who launched their new car on Monday, is under pressure to put up a stronger fight against Ferrari and Mercedes following another troubled start to last year which left both drivers frustrated at the lack of competitiveness.
As the car was developed and the gap closed, however, the power deficit and poor reliability from the French manufacturer’s engine, branded as TAG Heuer, remained the main weakness, as it has throughout the V6 hybrid era.
“The Renault engine should be more reliable and powerful in 2018, and we’ll be fighting with a competitive chassis at the outset,” Marko claimed, talking to Auto Motor und Sport.
“But Mercedes is producing a new engine, so the question is whether they’ll have an even bigger advantage. If the engine does what we’re promised, then we should be a lot closer to Mercedes.”
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Marko does see one positive, however, believing the need to treat both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen equally could work for Red Bull, while their rivals seemingly favouring one driver over the other.
“If you have two equally strong drivers, they both go for maximum performance and they push the technicians and the chassis to peak performance,” he suggested. “But when you have only one driver that goes to the limit, you do not know where you really are.”
Though hopeful of being in the mix for wins more regularly in 2018, the always blunt Austrian would conclude: “I don’t think we’re in a situation where we can already go for the world championship.”