Red Bull in new quit threat

Editor

After once again being destroyed by Mercedes in Australia, Helmut Marko has warned that Red Bull "could contemplate an F1 exit."

Last year, Red Bull Racing lost both Championship titles to Mercedes with the turnaround in form blamed largely on the sport's move into 1.6-litre V6 engines.

Renault missed the mark on the power units while Mercedes produced the best engine in the field and it showed in the results.

This year, despite being able to improve their engines in the off-season, Renault have failed to close the gap to Mercedes who romped away with the 1-2 in Australia.

Not only that, Daniel Ricciardo is already onto his second of four engines as the unit that expired in Friday's practice reportedly cannot be repaired.

The team's woes have led to Marko warning that Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz could lose his love for the sport unless something is done regarding the engine regulations.

"We will evaluate the situation again [in the summer] as every year and look into costs and revenues," Autosport quotes Marko as having said.

"If we are totally dissatisfied we could contemplate an F1 exit.

"Yes, the danger is there that Mr Mateschitz loses his passion for F1."

He added: "These power units are the wrong solution for F1, and we would say this even if [Red Bull supplier] Renault were in the lead.

"The technical rules are not understandable, much too complicated, and too expensive.

"We are governed by an engineers' formula. We wanted cost reduction too, but it is not happening like this.

"A designer like Adrian Newey [who is stepping back from F1] is castrated by this engine formula. These rules will kill the sport."