Red Bull ’not bad losers’ - Marko

Dr Helmut Marko insists he is just as critical of the current regime in F1 even after a better showing in Monaco this weekend.

The Austrian had warned that, as the ’power unit’ era stopped Red Bull’s run of titles, team owner Dietrich Mateschitz could now pull out of formula one.

But Red Bull-Renault showed signs of recovery in Monaco at the weekend, where the team was clearly ’best of the rest’ behind Mercedes and not far away from Ferrari.

"We are not worried about formula one only for competitive reasons," Marko insists to the German newspaper Welt.

"The problem is complex and has nothing to do with our current lack of competitiveness," he repeated.

"We are not bad losers; we are concerned about the future of the sport," said Marko.

Welt said a specially-commissioned study showed that the appeal of formula one in 100 countries has declined by about 25 per cent.

"We are concerned," Marko confirmed, "that the sport is no longer as attractive as the time when we entered."

And as for the competitive factor, he said the way the rules are set up means that Mercedes’ current engine advantage will not change in the short term.

"It’s like a boxing match between a heavyweight champion and a lightweight," said Marko.

"We live on the principle of hoping and waiting and giving those responsible time. That’s all we can do," he added.

That said, Marko admitted he is not very hopeful.

"In all the meetings with the stakeholders," he revealed, "we always parted ways without results."