Seemingly having watched Godfather II at some point, Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne appears to be heeding Michael Corleone's advice in the sense of 'keeping his friends close, but his enemies closer'.

Having turned down Red Bull's request for works-spec engines for 2016, and with the Austrian team currently without a supply, Marchionne has appeared to throw the team a lifeline.

Whilst repeating that he has no intention of 'arming' a rival, Marchionne has said there is scope for working with Red Bull, suggesting a technical partnership which would see Ferrari help build the Austrian team's own engines.

"The possibility of collaborating with Red Bull regarding the development of the power unit is still a valid option," he told a press conference at Mugello where he was attending the Ferrari Finali Mondiali. "I continue to re-affirm that, but it will not be in the context of Ferrari providing Red Bull with an equivalent engine to the one used by Ferrari in the races.

"The company is available to provide engineering and production services for an engine in a separate project for Red Bull, where Ferrari can commit to provide all its best in terms of engineering and give the chance to Red Bull and other manufacturers to have these engines," he continued. "But they cannot be the same Ferrari engines that race on our cars.

"I told this to (Dietrich) Mateschitz and also to (Helmut) Marko," he revealed. "My dream is not to beat Mercedes. My dream is making Ferrari what it's capable of being. It is sharing the essential things that are part of our DNA, but creating what would be a fictitious competition is foolish. Ferrari are able to put their engineering abilities at the disposal of others."

Of course, one could see this in various ways.

Under pressure from the FIA, FOM and rival teams - but not fellow engine manufacturers - Ferrari's vetoing of proposals for a price-cap on engines has resulted in the sport seeking an independent supplier.

Furthermore, though it is willing to supply Toro Rosso with 2015-spec engines, its refusal to supply Red Bull with 2016-spec units was widely seen as an act of fear.

Then there is the fact that Marchionne's 'offer' comes at a time that there is talk of Red Bull building its own engine, albeit a unit based on the Renault engine block but with the other components either coming from alternative suppliers or produced in-house. Indeed, it has been claimed (though denied) that Mario Illien is working on, amongst other things, a new cylinder head.

Such a move would see the former Ilmor man reunited with Adrian Newey, thereby recreating a partnership that proved so successful for McLaren-Mercedes back in the day. A thought that will certainly not have been missed by Ferrari.

Check out our Ferrari Finali Mondiali gallery, here.