Verstappen: Red Bull would rule F1 ... if it had Mercedes engines!

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Mexican Grand Prix

Max Verstappen reckons that Red Bull would be unstoppable in Formula 1 if they had Mercedes power units.

Despite winning four world titles with Renault, Red Bull has been frustrated with the French manufacturer in recent seasons. Their current contract expires at the end of 2018 and will not be renewed.

Last season, Verstappen was hit by reliability issues. The Renault engine was also lacking in power compared with its main Mercedes- and Ferrari-powered rivals.

Even so, Verstappen took two wins in 2017 in Malaysia and Mexico. His team mate Daniel Ricciardo was also victorious in Baku. Verstappen is sure they could have won even more - and competed for the title - if they'd had a Mercedes unit.

"I think that if we had a Mercedes engine in the back, they would never see us again!" the Dutch driver told Motorsport.com.

"Ours just isn't that stable compared to what Mercedes and Ferrari have," he admitted.

Verstappen conceded that there were no quick fixes to the problems that Renault had experienced last season.

First laps in new car will tell Verstappen where he stands

"It has to do with several things. Otherwise they would have solved it a long time ago, of course."

And nor was Red Bull's disappointing start to 2017 entirely down to the engine.

"They thought about going for a low drag configuration, but for some reason it just didn't work out," he explained. "Maybe it was a bit too optimistic.

"But you've seen that the team can turn things around very quickly," he added, looking on the bright side.

"Of course, by then your season is already lost," he added. "But it does give you confidence for the future that it can go in the right direction."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.