Despite the persistent claims - from Mercedes-powered drivers - Red Bull technical director, Pierre Wache insists that his team is not the current benchmark.

Sadly, the "He's Spartacus!" BS continues with every man and his dog - assuming Fido sports a Three-Pointed Star somewhere on his overalls - insisting that Red Bull is the team to beat.

Yes, the car looks good, yes, the power unit is powerful and reliable, but other than the usual caveats - fuel load, engine settings, etc - the claims from Mercedes-powered drivers that Red Bull is the benchmark comes at a time the German manufacturer's own power unit is the subject of investigation over its legality. Funny that.

If, as rival manufacturers claim, Mercedes has exploited a loophole in the regulations, it is claimed the German manufacturer's engines has a lot more tucked up its (cylinder) sleeves.

"It's difficult to say," Pierre Wache told reporters when asked where his team stands in the pecking order. "We are not the benchmark, for sure," he added.

"We see clearly the top three teams, Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren are in front of us," he continued, "it looks like, from what our analysis is, we are behind. But there is where we think we are at the moment.

"It's difficult to say about the others," he admitted, "because the run time of everybody, the level of fuel they run, the level of power they run, it's difficult to say, but it's currently our analysis that it could be wrong.

"We don't spend too much time on that, we try to focus on how to improve our work. How happy are you with your own work? I'm never happy with my own work. Clearly we have some improvement to do, some challenges around this type of regulation, with the level of oil that is quite low, the level of downforce very low, and the challenge to manage the traction at a low speed is very high, and that is one of the keys."

So, in other words, "I'm not Spartacus, they are!"