Red Bull will win "at least five races" in 2019 and are confident they are quicker than Mercedes, but have a small deficit to Ferrari, according to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko.
Whilst Red Bull showed strong form during testing in Barcelona last week, their ranking within the pecking order is difficult to call, and despite two crashes for Pierre Gasly costing them valuable development time – which Marko described as "unnecessary" – the Austrian remain optimistic they can win more races this year, which is their first with Honda power, than they did in 2018 when they won three with Renault.
"Ferrari are favorite," Marko exclaimed in an interview with Germany's Motorsport-Magazin. "Ferrari were quick as if they had already done a test for a week [beforehand].
"We were on the back foot due to Gasly's two accidents and the resulting loss of time.
"We brought things that did not fully develop due to Gasly's crashes. Especially the second crash which was completely unnecessary. [He] must clearly show more discipline!"
Marko added: "We will win at least five races," though noted that they will need to improve at certain tracks compared to last year, as the RB14 was strong on street-type circuits, but fell back on traditional high-speed tracks: "The tracks on which we are competitive need to be broader."
When asked to predict where they stand heading to the opening race of the 2019 season in Melbourne next weekend, he replied: "It's hard to say, but we think we're between Ferrari and Mercedes."
