Speaking to Germany's Sport1 last week, Helmut Marko admitted that in the wake of Honda's decision to withdraw from F1, Red Bull's preference would be to purchase the Japanese manufacturer's IP.

"It's a very complex subject, as complex as these engines are," admitted the Austrian. "We would favour, provided the talks with Honda are positive, that we take over the IP rights and everything that is necessary, to then prepare and deploy the engines ourselves in Milton Keynes."

However...

"This is only possible on condition that the engines are frozen by the first race in 2022 at the latest," he added. "We cannot afford further development, neither technically nor financially. That is a prerequisite."

Speaking to Sky Sports in Portugal, team boss, Christian Horner echoed the Austrian's comments.

"The more we look, there really only is one option that works," he said. "And that would be to try and agree something with Honda where we could take on the IP for the Honda engine, but of course that would have to be dependent on the regulations.

"It would only make sense for an independent engine supplier, as Red Bull would effectively be, if there was a freeze," he admitted. "It would be impossible to fund the kind of development spend that currently goes on with these engines.

"It's a big wake-up call for Formula One to have a major manufacturer like Honda walk away from the sport at the end of 2021," he added. "That leaves only three engine suppliers, and that's a very precarious place for the sport to be. The governing body really need to take control of this."

With Ferrari unwilling to supply its rival and Mercedes claiming that it doesn't have the capacity to provide another team, other than Honda's IP the only alternative is Renault.

"Renault don't really want to supply us," he said. "It's inconvenient to supply a team like Red Bull, we're not a standard customer team. We're not a small team."

Claiming that it would be "criminal" to see the Honda power units left "on a shelf somewhere in a Japanese warehouse", Horner is hoping that the FIA and the manufacturers agree.

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