Dr Helmut Marko does not believe Ferrari’s form in the last three races is entirely reflective of how the 2022 title fight is going to go down.
Charles Leclerc retired from the lead of the race in both Spain and Azerbaijan after suffering reliability failures.
Team-mate Carlos Sainz suffered the same fate last weekend in Baku, leaving Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to take the Austrian side’s third one-two of the season.
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Though Red Bull have won each of the last five races, Dr Marko knows that Ferrari are still very capable of winning races if they can phase out their problems, so all eyes at Milton Keynes are still firmly on the prize.
“Unlike Ferrari, we don’t have anything serious,” said the 79-year-old.
“In the last five races, there have been strong swings in our direction but that can turn again.
“Ferrari undoubtedly have a strong car if they can solve their problems, we must therefore take every opportunity they offer us.”
Between the works team, Alfa Romeo and Haas, Ferrari-powered cars have suffered 10 reliability-related issues in the last three rounds of the season, and all six drivers in those teams have found themselves on the receiving end at some stage.
Red Bull themselves suffered six separate failures in their engines between the main fold and junior side AlphaTauri in the opening three rounds of the year, as Verstappen, Perez and Pierre Gasly all retired from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Leclerc went on to win that race, and took victory in Australia when the reigning champion suffered another failure, so the title battle has been fluctuating all year so far.
Former McLaren and Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger believes it will continue to do so, meaning that both teams must remain on their toes.
“Red Bull had a few reliability problems at the beginning of the season, now it’s Ferrari’s turn,” he told the Kronen Zeitung Newspaper.
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“It will be like this all year, so both teams know that they always have to improve. We see Ferrari is already at the limit.
“In qualifying you can see that Ferrari has a small performance advantage, but they will have to turn down a screw or two here and there because total failures hurt the most.
“You can’t afford too many of those.
“Red Bull seems like a tight-knit team that is used to fighting for a world championship, while it was a long time ago for Ferrari so they are not so self-confident.”
Verstappen now leads the Drivers’ Championship by 21 points from team-mate Perez, with Leclerc now 34 points behind the Dutchman.
Meanwhile, the Austrian outfit lead the Scuderia by 80 points in the constructors’ battle.