Christian Horner: I think this is a question to be answered by Renault because it is their business, not ours. But as far as I am aware I think that they are making good progress on their dyno. They now have some strategic decisions about implementation, and the direction they want to take their development for the rest of this season - and that has an enormous impact on next year.

Q: Christian, back in Canada Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said that Renault’s new project was on the dyno, and you would know its potential in three weeks’ time. That window closed at Silverstone - so what is the state of affairs?

Q: What does their timeframe mean for you then?

CH: Of course it tests our patience. Like any competitive team we want performance yesterday, and unfortunately with engines the lead time is a lot longer than with the chassis. Patience is something that we are not really good at. We want to have performance as soon as possible...

Q: What is ‘as soon as possible’? The next three weeks?

CH: From where the concept is at the moment you are probably looking at least at a couple of months. Two to three months. It needs to happen this year - but also what you learn this year will help you next season.

Q: Both Renault and Red Bull have reportedly drawn up exit scenarios - but given that you recently signed a personal contract renewal with Red Bull, can we understand that their exit is now off the table?

CH: Hah! I signed that contract a short while ago. We are determined to get back to a competitive position. It hurts when you are not competitive, and unfortunately there are certain elements we are not in control of. But where we are in control, we are working flat out so that when the power upgrades do come, we are in a position to make best use of them.

Q: Are you satisfied with the chassis situation right now?

CH: We are never satisfied. Here you always try to get better. The regulation changes over the winter did hurt us - probably more than we anticipated - but we now have a pretty good understanding of the areas where we need to improve - and how to improve.

Q: Is there interest in trying to bring James Key over from Toro Rosso? He is showing what is possible on a slim budget...

CH: No interest at all. We have a strong technical team. Adrian (Newey) is still involved in all the things that are going on and with Rob Marshal, Pierre Wache and Dan Fallows we have a strong technical group - so no desire to change anything.

Q: What about Renault? There has been speculation that they could purchase Lotus. What would that mean for the two Red Bull teams? Boss Carlos Ghosn reportedly said it is very unlikely Renault will play the part of engine supplier in 2017...

CH: Those are decisions that they have to make. It would hold a certain irony if they buy back the team they sold. But as far as our position is concerned, we have a very clear agreement with Renault, which guarantees us priority status. Any of those scenarios requires having a competitive engine - and doesn’t really matter based on the agreement that we have.

Q: Some suggested Red Bull Racing have been ‘flirting’ with Ferrari recently. Could that be a short-term remedy? For sure it doesn’t appear to be a long-term solution if you want to win titles again...

CH: Ah, I think it would be an exaggeration saying that Red Bull is ‘flirting’ with Ferrari. Obviously Red Bull Group had a relationship with Ferrari for many years as engine supplier for Toro Rosso. Sergio (Marchionne) made a generous offer without any details when he attended the Austrian Grand Prix - but right now our focus is on what we have at this point in time.