“Actually it was (over) even before Monza,” Mateschitz was quoted as saying to the Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten after the Italian Grand Prix. “It's because our engine is inferior and the fact the rules limit each driver to eight engines for the year.”
Red Bull have recently been rumored to be in advanced talks with German engine manufacturer Mercedes-Benz for a new engine deal starting 2010.
Sebastian Vettel is currently running out of his engine allocations this season, as he was forced to sit most of the Friday practice session in the garage in order to preserve the life of his engine. As stated in the Formula One rule book, each time a driver will use an extra engine in 2009 – apart from the 8 initially allowed – a grid penalty will be enforced by the FIA stewards.
In addition, Renault's poor engines have prevented Red Bull from scoring consistent podiums in the last few races, as the Milton Keynes team scored only 13 points in the last 4 events.
For the future, Mateschitz admitted the team doesn't hold that many chances ahead of title rivals Brawn GP, as the two RBR drivers will have to agree to even more compromises than in the first part of 2009.
“Of course, a race victory is not impossible, but that we can achieve upper positions with our two drivers four times is not expected. From now we can't even drive much in the practice sessions because we have no spare engines, which is a strange competitive condition,” added the Austrian boss.
In the overall classification, Brawn-Mercedes are 40.5 points ahead of Red Bull, while Vettel is 26 point behind championship leader Jenson Button with 4 races to go.
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