Helmut Marko issues Daniel Ricciardo ominous message ahead of Australian Grand Prix

Red Bull supremo Helmut Marko has issued an ominous warning to Daniel Ricciardo on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix.

The Aussie has endured a slow start to the season with RB, recording finishes of 13th and 16th in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

While Ricciardo was fairly evenly matched with teammate Yuki Tsunoda in Bahrain, Tsunoda was the quicker of the two for the balance of the Saudi Arabia weekend.

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While they only finished one place apart in the final classification, Tsunoda finished 14th on the road and only a five-second penalty for an unsafe release relegated him a spot lower.

Ricciardo had his issues in the race though – a botched pitstop under the safety car triggered by Lance Stroll's crash saw him stranded in the pits for more than 40 seconds and dumped him to the back of the train.

But his race was capped off by an \.

Ricciardo is pushing for a recall to the senior Red Bull squad alongside Max Verstappen, but given his struggles – and Sergio Perez doing exactly what the team ask of him by finishing second behind Verstappen – that is already a shaky prospect.

Now, in a column for German publication Speedweek, Marko has seemingly put those concerns on the record.

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"There's a lot at stake this season for both Yuki and Daniel," he wrote.

"Yuki's qualifying is very good, and Ricciardo has to come up with something soon.

"At least Tsunoda is very good in qualifying. Then they race in the points in the first stint, only to fall further behind afterwards.

"Whether they are putting too much strain on the tyres or there are other reasons is what you need to find out."

Although not formally an employee of the Red Bull team, Marko effectively runs the driver program and is usually the one to make the final call on who steers the cars across both teams.

Ricciardo after the race claimed the team did not have his VCARB-01 "functioning at 100 per cent".

"We see a few flaws with the car, so we've got to get that fixed for the next one," he said.

"With a good car and everything sorted, I know we can do a lot better. So painful three days, but I don't want it to take any confidence out of us."

To earn himself a promotion, Ricciardo needs to comprehensively outdrive Tsunoda and for Perez to endure another tough season.

Practice for Ricciardo's home grand prix in Melbourne begins Friday week.