McLaren may have taken a massive step forward in Australia, however, Adrian Newey says they did it by copying Red Bull's exhaust system.
McLaren struggled during pre-season testing, falling behind their rivals by as much as two seconds a lap in qualifying trim.
However, in Australia, the Woking team proved to be Red Bull's closest rival, overtaking Ferrari, who had been at the fore during testing.
And Newey reckons they have Red Bull to thank for their improvement.
"McLaren made a huge leap forward - by copying our exhaust, it has to be said - but the bottom line is they still made huge leaps forward. I am sure they will be pushing us hard," said the Red Bull technical guru.
McLaren, though, won't be the only teams following in Red Bull's footsteps as Williams have already confirmed they will be introducing a similar exhaust in time for the Chinese GP in April.
"We think it works for us. It seems it also works for McLaren. It's a form of flattery but it's a bit of a pain if they then beat you with it."
But while their rivals are doing everything they can to close the gap, Newey is doing all he can to extend it, revealing that Red Bull may have their KERS up and running in time for the next race in Malaysia.
The team was without the device in Australia, however, that did little to stop Sebastian Vettel from taking a dominant victory.
"It was quite a stressful weekend in Australia. There were a lot of rumours about our KERS system for a start," said Newey.
"The intention going into the weekend was actually to run a full KERS, but we had some reliability problems, so we had to take it off.
"We hope it will be in the car in Malaysia, but first and foremost we need to try and field a car that is reliable, and if we feel it is that then we will try to race it."
He added: "We're not experts in that field, so we're on a steep learning curve, and we'll make a decision on the Friday evening in Malaysia."
Newey was speaking at the Segrave Trophy Awards lunch held at the Royal Automobile Club in London where he collected the honour for being the only Formula One designer to have designed Championship-winning cars with three different teams, Williams, McLaren and Red Bull
Commemorating the life of Sir Henry Segrave, the trophy is awarded to a British subject with the 'spirit of adventure' for the most outstanding demonstration of transportation by land, air or water.
"To receive such an illustrious and distinguished trophy like this, it almost sends shivers down my spine when I look at the names who have received it in the past, the history of it," said Newey.
"I've tremendously enjoyed my career, and been privileged to work with some great people.
"I can honestly say I've just about enjoyed every single working day of it. Everything else has been a bonus."
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