RBR: Only two drivers we fear in F1 2010 title fight

Dr. Helmut Marko has asserted that there are only two rival drivers Red Bull Racing is wary of in the battle for the F1 2010 World Championship crown - and the defending title-winner is not one of them.

Heading next across the Bosphorus to Istanbul for the Turkish Grand Prix at the end of the month, Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel currently sit tied atop the points standings, three markers clear of former double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso and eight ahead of 2009 king Jenson Button, who until Monaco last weekend led the way.

To underline the energy drinks-backed outfit's early-season superiority, no other team has yet to claim pole position in qualifying six races in, whilst of RBR's three victories to-date, two of them have been commanding one-twos, and arguably but for reliability woes and occasionally questionable strategy, the Milton Keynes-based squad could be unbeaten.

Outspoken ex-grand prix ace Marko - now a special advisor to Red Bull - insists such form should come as no surprise, and revealed the team is so confident in its potential that it has narrowed down the drivers it sees as threats to Webber and Vettel to just two.

"There are two people that we fear for this world title," the 67-year-old Austrian told APA news agency. "They are Fernando Alonso, because he is at his absolute peak, and Lewis Hamilton. What the others are doing bothers us not so much.

"With the package that we have, we clearly have to be going for the championship - and in the coming years [too]. We have the people we need and the necessary tools to adapt to changes. We have had a winning car also in 2008 and 2009, so you can't say that it's a fluke when you build a top car in three consecutive years."