Red Bull’s Helmut Marko has issued power unit supplier Renault with a deadline to show improvement or risk being replaced for next season.
The outspoken Austrian warned the French company that should they not see changes within a couple of months, then they would have no alternative but to dump their supplier of eight years.
“If there is no noticeable improvement in two or three months, we will definitely be talking about an alternative,” Marko told Bild.
The 70-year-old advisor to billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz is growing increasingly impatient, after he took engineers from both Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso and installed them at Renault’s Viry facility to help solve some of the issues.
Whilst progress has been made since pre-season testing, the unit is still down on maximum power when compared to its rivals; Mercedes and Ferrari.
Marko is hoping that for now, they can rely on trouble at Mercedes.
“We cannot put additional horse power in the engine ourselves,” he added. “But we can hope for trouble between [Nico] Rosberg and [Lewis] Hamilton and then drive past them.”
Whilst the pair haven’t shown any signs of falling out or coming together on track just yet, even Mercedes chairman Toto Wolff admitted it was a possibility.
“We are spending quite some time discussing those things, discussing scenarios and discussing situations [that might arise].
“What makes a difference is that these guys [Hamilton and Rosberg] have known each other for such a long time and they have a fair relationship with each other.
“But it doesn’t mean that they are not extremely competitive and that they will try to use every advantage they can,” he added.
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