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Mercedes resisting engine parity - Marko

Mercedes is believed to have the most powerful engine in the sport © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Jaime Alguersuari
• |
• Sébastien Buemi
• |
• Helmut Marko

• Teams:
• Mercedes
• |
• Red Bull
• |
• Toro Rosso

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has revealed that Mercedes is still resisting efforts to create engine parity in Formula One.

Mercedes is widely believed to have the most powerful engines in the sport, a position locked in place by the FIA's freeze on development. Renault recently admitted that its engines, which are supplied to Red Bull, are not as powerful as some of its rivals and at the Hungarian Grand Prix Mark Webber suggested that something should be done to equalise the situation.

There were calls for engine parity over the winter, but it is understood they were blocked by Mercedes when it was was asked by the FIA to reduce the power of its unit to come into line with others. Marko has now revealed that power equalisation is still being put off by the German manufacturer.

"It's frustrating," Dr Marko told Austria's laola1.at. "Renault is losing about three tenths of a second per lap, but so far there is no green light [for parity]. First we would need an agreement within FOTA, but so far Mercedes is resisting."

Speaking about Red Bull's junior F1 team Toro Rosso, Marko said that its drivers Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari could not relax despite being confirmed for next year.

"The drivers must confirm themselves and develop," Marko added. "Of course, moves like when Alguersuari crashed into the back of Buemi should not happen. At the moment it is looking good [for them], but with Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne, we have two very fast juniors."

He indicated that Ricciardo and Vergne can expect to get some F1 laps under their belts at the post Abu-Dhabi young driver test.

"November is still quite a long way away, but it would be a logical consequence of our junior programme," said Marko. "To what extent and for which team [they will test] has not been decided yet."

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