Not known for his sentimental approach, Helmut Marko has no time for the numerous titles Red Bull and Renault won together in the past, he is only concerned with the here and now... and the future.

As Red Bull languishes sixth in the standings, one point behind its sister team, the Austrian has sent out a clear warning to the French manufacturer.

"We are significantly behind Mercedes. They clearly dominate," he told the official F1 website. "The complexity of the units: IC engine, hybrid, MGU-K, MGU-H, and bringing all these systems together, and then adding driveability to it - that makes the best product and that is clearly the case with Mercedes. But because the rules are not open it means that you are only allowed to make changes on a very limited scale which makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to catch up.

"This situation will last until the rules are changed again," he continued. "And then when you have such a disastrous weekend as Melbourne things are said fast - and the Malaysian weekend didn't ease the situation much. We have implemented now a system where it is clearly defined who has what responsibilities, as there have been mistakes in the past from Renault's side as well as from our side as both companies stand for different corporate cultures. Here you have basically a state-run organisation and we in the UK have highly motivated people that react immediately to any necessity. Add to that the problems with the test facility, and there you have a situation that we have seen at the last two races. How and when we find improvement - whether this season or in 2016 - is still unclear.

"We had very successful years with Renault," he admits, "so it was extremely unexpected that we had such a difficult 2014 season - that the Renault power unit could not match Mercedes. We did improve over the season and were the only other team to win races aside from Mercedes. So the disappointment that the start of 2015 was again a catastrophe was extremely big.

"Now we are in the second year of glitches - and right now in P6 in the constructors' championship, behind our junior team! Of course that is a wake-up call for the people in Viry and they have promised a significant performance raise in the course of the season that will enable us to close in again."

There has been speculation of a link-up with Audi and even talk of Red Bull building its own power unit. Marko is glad of the opportunity to put the record straight.

"I answer with the words of Dietrich Mateschitz," he says, in response to the talk of an Audi partnership, "there haven't been talks nor are we commencing a winter sale - referring to the three hundred million that is hanging in the air as a sale price."

As for building its own engine...

"We are not interested in developing our own power unit," he insists. "We are a chassis developer and a race team, and our priority is making our partnership with Renault a success again. Should that not happen it would be normal to look for alternatives.

"We have a contract with Renault until the end of 2016," he adds. "A new engine manufacturer surely will wait to see what is possible within the rules in 2017. This decision of what is possible in 2017 has to be made soon as every new manufacturer needs lead-time for development."

Asked the teams' minimum target for 2015, he replies: "Toro Rosso should be P5 and Red Bull Racing P3. With the handicap that we have this year with the power unit we could say: 'that's okay for this season' - but not for medium term."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by f1fan, 05/04/2015 7:50

"Marko, you're a whiner. Your junior team has outperformed yours so it cannot be only Renault's fault."

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2. Posted by Yeyox02, 04/04/2015 22:14

"It is realy boring reading what Marko says, the same about Ecclestone."

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3. Posted by mich-one, 04/04/2015 13:50

"As Gurmit so aptly put it, "Red Bull, now with added Sour Grapes". They should be cautious the new flavour's ingredients are not found to also include "The Grapes of Wrath"....."

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4. Posted by F One, 04/04/2015 13:31

"Boo hoo waaah. Change the tune Red Bull or just go away."

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Marko maintains pressure on Renault

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