Marko: "Red Bull is ready to start winning races"

Dr Helmut Marko, head of the Red Bull Young Driver programme, has revealed that he believes that the Milton Keynes-based team is ready to start winning again on its own merit as opposed to the mistakes of others.

This statement follows last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which saw Daniel Ricciardo secure Red Bull Racing’s first win of the 2017 season - a win that the Australian admitted was a lucky one due to the car not being suited to the power reliant street circuit.

Despite this, Marko told Auto Motor und Sport that the win was "extremely important" for Red Bull due to its "bad start" to the 2017 season: "The pace is now coming slowly. It shows also in qualifying, although we cannot turn up the engine like Mercedes and Ferrari. But the direction is right. On the right track, we can already win on our own strength," said Marko.

"We are expecting a lot for Silverstone and Budapest. We have made a real step forward with the chassis and found a second since the start of the season. But Renault has also made significant progress," he added. "Two-tenths on the straight in Baku does not sound much, but it makes a difference."

While Mercedes and Ferrari appeared to be miles ahead of Red Bull at the start of the season, it seems that Red Bull is closing the gap to F1’s current frontrunners, aiming to make it a three-way battle for the championship.

"We are already as strong as the second [best] car," revealed Marko. "Hamilton and Vettel are three to four tenths ahead, and with the power turned up it is even more. But we are moving in the right direction. We just have to survive our home race now."

Red Bull’s home race is the forthcoming Austrian Grand Prix, with the energy drinks company owning the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.  Talking about the race in Austria, Marko commented: "There is a lot of stop and go, many straights, short corners and uphill acceleration zones. There are too few places where we can make up for it with our chassis."

Due to Austria being a power reliant circuit, it is a race that Red Bull expect to struggle at, with Christian Horner admitting earlier this month that the race would be difficult due to the Renault-powered RB13.

Chris Soulsby