Marko: Alonso did everything to make Honda engine look bad

Speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, Marko said, "Honda is very active and have already found something. Maybe they manage to be on the level of Renault with the second engine."

"Honda had to compromise because of the McLaren chassis specifications. They could not develop freely and were pretty limited and Alonso did everything to make the engine look bad."

Ahead of pre-season testing in Barcelona, a month from now, Marko is confident that the Red Bull RB14 will be ready to roll unlike in previous years where delays in production hampered their testing programme despite being unable to resist a swipe at the team's ace designer Adrian Newey.

Marko continued, "Toro Rosso is a bit ahead with the production of their car compared to Red Bull. When Toro Rosso starts producing, Red Bull has not even finished the design phase!"

But he insists that last season's RB13 was a good chassis, "We were still good, it was Renault who had to reduce performance because of problems with the reliability"

"Now from Paris (Renault F1 factory) come signs that reliability is under control. Combined with the hope that Renault can now develop properly to close the gap."

"I hope we can surprise," added Marko who also revealed that Newey's involvement with the design of the RB14 was "not 100 percent, but substantial."

It is well known in the paddock that Red Bull have been seeking alternative engine partners over the past three years. They have been linked with Audi, Porsche and VW while Aston Martin is the title sponsor and they themselves harbour F1 ambitions.

Renault have to supply Red Bull until the end of 2019. What happens thereafter is pure speculation, but one scenario is that Renault do pull the plug and force Red Bull to find an alternative, hence the importance for them of the Honda project with Toro Rosso.

Marko explained, "[With Renault] there is no fixed deadline and there are also ways to delay that."