Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has called on Renault to get their act together and help save his organisation 's season . Horner was left fuming following the opening race in Australia on Sunday after Red Bull found themselves severely handicapped by power-unit supplier Renault over the course of the weekend . Initially , the Milton Keynes-based marque were forced to change the power unit on Daniel Ricciardo 's car in between practice sessions on Friday due to a problem with the engine . Red Bull chief Christian Horner has accused engine supplier Renault of going backwards this season . Daniel Ricciardo could only manage a sixth-placed finish for Red Bull during the Australian Grand Prix . Red Bull 's second driver Daniil Kvyat pulled out of Sunday 's opening race with a gear box failure . Come the race further embarrassment followed as Daniil Kvyat , on his debut for the team following his promotion last year from Toro Rosso , retired on the formation lap with a suspected gearbox failure . Horner has already called on the FIA to introduce equalisation rules as he fears Mercedes will continue to dominate after their easy one-two around Melbourne 's Albert Park , spearheaded by Lewis Hamilton . More pertinently , though , Horner knows Renault have to up their game otherwise the rest of the campaign will be a washout . 'Renault need to have a clear vision and they need it quickly , ' said Horner . 'You can see Ferrari have made a good step forward , whereas Renault at this stage appear to have made a retrograde step . 'It 's frustrating we are effectively further back than we were in Abu Dhabi in both power and driveability . 'It means we have n't seen the potential of our car yet because it 's masked by the engine issues we have . ' Max Verstappen ( centre ) walks back to Toro Rosso team garage after retiring from the Australian Grand Prix . Lewis Hamilton ( right ) and Nico Rosberg finished first and second respectively at the Australian Grand Prix . VIDEO Hamilton cruises to victory in Australian GP . As to the steps required over the coming weeks , Horner added : 'First we have to understand what the problem is in order to address it . 'Until Renault get to the bottom of what the issues are they are very difficult to address . A lot of dyno running needs to be done in order to understand . 'It 's important we regroup with Renault and offer support where we can because it 's obviously in a bit of a mess at the moment . 'But we need to understand things quickly . Across the four cars ( Renault also supply Toro Rosso ) we had two engine failures - one within five laps - and a whole bunch of reliability problems . 'It 's not the start Renault can afford to have . ' After an abysmal start to pre-season a year ago Red Bull recovered to claim three wins and finish second in the constructors ' championship , albeit a long way adrift of Mercedes . Red Bull struggled to keep up with Mercedes , WIlliams and Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix . Red Bull and Renault were expected to take a step closer this season , but instead Horner fears they will be cut adrift . Asked whether Renault were capable of producing a championship- challenging engine , Horner replied : 'This year , no . 'But we need to be doing a lot better than we are . We need to be challenging Ferrari and Williams . 'If we sort the issues out then we can do that , but the drivers need to have a fair run at it and they did n't have that over the weekend . '
Red Bull chief wants engine supplier to Renault to improve their reliability . Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat retired at Australian Grand Prix with gearbox failure . Toro Rosso are also powered by Renault and saw Max Verstappen retire .