Helmut Marko on Red Bull v Ferrari drama: 'We want a fair fight'

Ferrari's clear early advantage over Red Bull this year has done a complete 180-degree turn, with the energy drink company's top team now a full 80 points ahead after the Baku F1 race.

Team principal Mattia Binotto vows that an investigation into Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Ferrari-powered customer cars' technical failures will now occur.

World champion Max Verstappen, meanwhile, has pulled his lead to the first non-Red Bull car - former championship leader Leclerc - out to a significant 34 points.

"Ferrari has now had two technical failures, and so have we, so we have a tie there," said Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull's advisor. "But you can see what is possible with consistency, as is the case with George Russell. He's not as fast, but he's more consistent and therefore not far away in points."

LAP 20/51Plumes of smoke coming out of Leclerc's car Looks like his engine has blown. He's out! ??#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Ub4ihbtV0m

The 78-year-old Austrian even sounds a little sympathetic about Ferrari's new reliability crisis.

"We want a fair fight," Marko told Servus TV, "although Leclerc is already on his third engine. All of this is not very good for Ferrari, given the upcoming grid penalties, and we've really only just started the season."

Binotto agrees: "We made huge leaps in performance with the engine over the winter, and it looks like we're paying the price now."

Finally, Marko said that despite Sergio Perez's current runner-up spot just 21 points behind teammate Verstappen, that doesn't mean it is a perfectly equal fight.

"We have nothing on paper about that," he said, referring to suggestions Perez is really just the number 2 driver. "But if you look at the performance, there is a difference between them and Max