Helmut Marko has revealed Red Bull were close to agreeing a deal to use Mercedes F1 engines - a move which was ultimately blo🤪cked by Toto Wolff.

At the start of the hybrid era in 2014, Red Bull were uncompetitive relative to Mercedes, which dominated the first three seaso💫ns.

Red Bull’s performance was limited ဣby their engine supplier, Renault.

In a bid to become more competitive, Red Bull assessed alternative options in terms of power unit🎉 supply.

Red Bull would ultimately remain with Renault until the end of 2018 after neither Mercedes or Ferrari agreed to supply them w👍ith engines.

Unsurpri♕singly, their rivals were concerned if they had the same power unit they’d beat them given the Red Bull chassis still tended to 🐼be competitive.

Speaking on the podcast, Marko shared a story 🔯about Niki Lauda striking a deal with Red Bull before it was halted by Wolff.

“In 2014, when the new engine rules came in,🌠 our engine supplier, unfortunately, couldn't make a competitive engine," Marko said.

“There was quite a big r♔ivalry with Mercedes, and also our boss [Mateschitz] was not a big fan. I said, 'Listen, with our engine, we can't motivate🐠 people anymore, because everybody knows with this engine you can't win'.

“So we had a deal with Mercedes, a handshake deal with Lauda, which was not supported b🍒💝y Toto, so the deal didn't happen."

Red Bul♌l ultimately joined forces with Honda in 2019 after the Japanese manufacturer💛’s miserable partnership with McLaren ended two years earlier.

Their decision to partner with Honda proved to be a fruitful one, returning to championship-winning ways 🥂in 2021.

“We we🌟nt to Honda," added Marko. "Honda, at that stage, failed to be cꦑompetitive with McLaren, but I had some inside information on what they were planning to do, so we said, 'Yes, we go ahead. We take this risk'.

“I believed it wasn't a risk because I knew how much they had spent on dynos. They ಞw🔯ere serious about it."

“At that moment it was, how did [Fernando] Alonso say, F2 st♍yle or power, or something like that, a bra🎃ve decision. We always took brave decisions. So a little bit no risk, no fun.”