There is still time for Red Bull to pull out of an early crisis and be competitive in 2014.
That is the claim of Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali, following a disastrous opening test at Jerez for Red Bull and other Renault-powered teams.
"If the nature of the problem is clarified, Red Bull can quickly make up for the lost miles," the Italian told the sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"In two weeks, they could have solved all the problems," he predicted.
"One must never underestimate such a strong rival."
As for Ferrari’s hopes, Domenicali acknowledged that anything other than first place in 2014 after a six-year title drought would be "a tragedy".
"We started in the right way," he revealed. "There were no bad surprises.
"There are signs that our project is solid, and that gives us cause for hope. But we won’t really start to see the balance of power until after the last Bahrain test."
As for Ferrari’s drivers, Domenicali tipped Fernando Alonso to "make the most" of the change of regulations because he is "extremely intelligent."
And, referring to the returning 2007 team champion, he said: "I have found a more mature Kimi (Raikkonen), more closely knit to the team.
"He comes to Maranello almost every week to work with the engineers," revealed Domenicali.