Red Bull spend too much, says Briatore

That is the view of Renault boss Flavio Briatore, who claims that Red Bull's massive recruitment drive from rival teams has led to the outfit losing sympathy from some of their rivals.

"Red Bull seems to be on a big shopping tour at the moment and they are spoiling the costs with exaggerated salaries," said Briatore in an interview with Auto Motor Und Sport.

"In the past we all thought that it was Ferrari who spent the most money. Maybe we have to reconsider that.

"Taking into account how much money Red Bull invests, they have to win their first race this year. Red Bull got a lot of sympathy in their first season, but they are starting to lose that."

Briatore's comments about Red Bull Racing needing to win a race this year have come at the same time as the team's leading figures bid to play down mounting expectations surrounding the outfit.

David Coulthard claimed the realistic target this season was for Red Bull Racing to finish consistently in the points and maybe grab just a single podium finish.

"I think we have to be careful and set realistic targets, and the realistic target is that I think we should be aiming for consistent points finishes and a possible podium," he said in an interview with autosport.com.

Sporting director Christian Horner added: "It is always a fine balance and I think that David's public perception is very high and this year is going to be another building year for Red Bull Racing. We will make progress from where we were last year, but ultimately we won't be winning races this year on pure pace.

"Our targets are quite clear, we want to be challenging some of the big boys ahead of us, we think we can compete with Williams, we got quite close to BAR last year, BMW are going to be a big force to be reckoned with as well. So we are confident we can move forward and build on that progress."