Kobayashi says Renault currently behind F1 rivals Mercedes and Ferrari

Renault is not currently in a position to compete with rival engine manufacturers Mercedes and Ferrari, according to Caterham driver Kamui Kobayashi.

"This is what we have in our hand right now so we have to help them to be able to fight with the other engine manufacturers," said Kobayashi when asked by AUTOSPORT about the engine situation.

"At the moment, we are definitely too weak pace-wise, so we give the maximum chance to them [to work] and thereafter we have to work on our car.

"So we are waiting for the engine system.

"During testing, we meet some other cars and clearly we can see the Mercedes cars are much quicker in the straights, 20-30km/h more and it would mean different braking points, everything, if we had proper power.

"We will see what we can do in a short time. At the moment, we are definitely quite late."