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Daniel Ricciardo believes the considerable engine deficit between Renault and Mercedes is effectively "throwing away" the talent at Red Bull's disposal.

The gap between the Renault and Mercedes power units seemed to have grown in Austria, leading to Christian Horner labelling the French manufacturer's performance as "unacceptable". The main issue comes down to its power deficit on the straights and Ricciardo says this is not an area where a team can afford to be losing time.

"Don't get me wrong, it is frustrating," Ricciardo said. "It's hard because a lot of it happens on a straight and there's no skill required on a straight. It's sort of like throwing away talent for nothing really. Don't get me wrong, anyone could hop in the car and if you're not scared of going 300 km/h then you can easily go flat out on a straight in a Formula One car.

"It's just giving away time for nothing, I guess, which is the frustrating part. From our side as well they've spent time, hours, money on designing a fast car through the corners but it just gets washed away on the straights. That's the frustrating part. But it is what it is basically."

Despite his frustrations, Ricciardo does not want to make himself too vocal a critic of Renault given the fact he is yet to complete his debut season with Red Bull.

"I'm new to the team so I'm not going to come in and start throwing stuff around the room and say 'this is how it should be', there's other people to do that. I'm just driving what I'm given. I have faith we can turn it around, this year now is getting away from us but for 2015 I have faith things will definitely improve."

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