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Optimistic Marko buoyed by Honda reliability so far

Red Bull motorsports consultant Dr Helmut Marko says he's optimistic for 2019, despite the team not currently showing the same form as Ferrari in pre-season testing this week at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

"What I saw yesterday on the circuit, for sure Ferrari at the moment is the fastest car," Marko told Sky Sports F1 in Spain. "Behind them is Red Bull and Mercedes."

It's a vital season for Red Bull, which ended its long-term association with engine providers Renault at the end of last season and is now embarking on a new partnership with Honda.

So far there's been good news on the reliability front, with Max Verstappen completing 128 laps on Monday and 109 on Wednesday, with Pierre Gasly adding a further 92 in his time in the cockpit on Tuesday.

Tost puts his money on Red Bull-Honda winning in 2019

"It's a very good relationship," Marko agreed. "It's a new period, we don't look back, we look forward.

"The concern was of course reliability, but so far there's not been a problem so far," he pointed out. "The engine is reliable and I would say we have never had such a good preparation for a season.

“It’s a new culture [working with Honda] as well, but it fits well with our people.

"We've had a very good time [in testing]," he added. "Let's see what we can do till Melbourne - but we are quite optimistic."

Red Bull has also been buoyed by the raw pace of the Honda engine this week, as demonstrated by Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat topping the Wednesday timesheets with the same power unit.

Team boss Christian Horner was certainly sounding happy with how things were shaping up so far.

"[We are] very happy with the engine and how smoothly things have gone this week," he told MotorsportWeek.com on Thursday. "Really pleased with the whole chassis/engine integration aspect

"[It's] a very pleasant surprise, something we hadn't immediately expected," Horner admitted.

Horner had previously denied that there had been a 'vibration issue' with the new Honda unit

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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.