Marko: 'We can now win on our own!'

Helmut Marko believes Red Bull Racing is slowly but surely reaching a performance level which will warrant race wins on its own merit.

Red Bull was expected to throw a spanner into Mercedes' works this season but the early part of the campaign saw the Milton Keynes-based outfit struggle behind Ferrari and the Silver Arrows.

An aerodynamic package introduced in Barcelona last month coupled with a bit of progress on its power unit front thanks to Renault have largely improved the team's performance.

Daniel Ricciardo made the most of a chaotic race in Baku on Sunday to collect the team's first win since Malaysia last year, but Marko reckons the team is in a position to win on its own at certain venues. 

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"It was extremely important after a bad start to the season," Marko told Auto Motor und Sport, when asked what last weekend's victory meant to the team.

"Our speed is coming slowly now, which was shown in qualifying, although we cannot turn the engines up like Mercedes and Ferrari can.

"We're heading in the right direction and, on the right circuit, we can win on our own. We expect a lot for Silverstone and Budapest."

Critical earlier this year of the stagnant performance of Renault's power unit, Marko now praises the manufacturer's work along with the efforts produced by the team itself. 

"In Baku, we went with the smallest wing [level] and were at the front in the technical sector.

"We have made a real step forward with the chassis and, since the beginning of the season, we have found a second [in performance].

"But Renault has also delivered a noticeable step forward. Only two-tenths [worth of gains] in a straight line does not sound much, but you do notice it." 

Marko insisted however that Red Bull must get on top of its reliability issues, which put Max Verstappen once again out of the race in Baku. 

"We have to stop this, because it happens in all areas," he added.

"In Spain, it was an accident caused by [Valtteri] Bottas, in Canada it was the battery, in Baku it was the engine damage, in Bahrain it was the brakes, which was our responsibility.

"The engine damage in Baku was probably due to it overheating. After three laps the temperatures went up. There were some carbon parts, which blocked the radiators."

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