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F1 Report: Red Bull will improve after poor start in Australia

Don't miss the F1 Report with all the reaction to the Australian GP at 8.30pm on Wednesday on Sky Sports F1

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Speaking on this week's F1 Report, guests Marc Priestley and Craig Slater discuss Red Bull's title chances

Red Bull will improve as the season goes on despite their poor start in Australia, according to F1 Report guests.

Max Verstappen could only manage fifth while Daniel Ricciardo dropped out in the 2017 curtain-raiser after crashing in qualifying, as the team fell well short of the standards set by Ferrari and Mercedes.

And Sky Sports News HQ reporter Craig Slater, speaking on the F1 Report, which airs on Wednesday at 8.30pm on Sky Sports F1, believes that Red Bull can still turn this season into a three-way battle for the title.

F1 Midweek Report

"[Team advisor] Dr Helmut Marko said to me during testing that they're hoping the Renault power unit will be somewhere near competitive with Ferrari and Mercedes by mid-season," said Slater.

"We sometimes think when they say mid-season they mean end of season! And you do just worry they'll be on a little island on their own just behind those front two.

"But it could be a three-team fight by the end if Ferrari and Mercedes take wins off each other early doors and Red Bull come back into it."

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Whilst on this week's F1 Report, Craig Slater re-enacts Toto Wolff's fist bang during the Australian GP, but scares Natalie Pinkham in the process

Meanwhile Marc Priestley, who joined Slater and presenter Natalie Pinkham on the show, agreed that Red Bull should step it up throughout 2017.

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"It was one of those weekends to forget, and it was compounded by the fact the Red Bull isn't as quick as they would have expected," said Priestley. "It was a tough weekend [for Ricciardo] and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

"But don't forget they've had to take off a fairly substantial trick suspension system after the FIA told them to remove it. The Mercedes had something similar but not quite as in-depth and I think it has hurt Red Bull a lot more.

"Their top speeds are quite low [compared to the top two] and I know the Renault power unit isn't the strongest there, and all these things combined just mean they aren't quite there.

"They're going to be disappointed because they wanted to be up there. But they will develop and pick up the pieces if there are any mistakes in front of them, and I think they'll be a lot stronger in the second half of the season."

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