Ferrari is open to supplying Red Bull with power units, claiming it would not be "scared" of the four-time champions beating it with its own engines.
Red Bull is set to bring an early end to its contract with current engine supplier Renault, meaning the championship winning team of 2010-2013 is in search of a new power unit for 2016. Initially it had held talks with Mercedes, but a deal is looking increasingly unlikely as the German manufacturer is wary of supplying one of its main rivals with its biggest asset.
With Honda both struggling and committed to a McLaren works deal, that just leaves Ferrari of the current manufacturers. Renault is expected to finalise a deal to turn Lotus into its works team this month and Red Bull boss Christian Horner said he has recently been exploring his options with the other engine suppliers.
"Inevitably it's my job to talk with everybody," he said. "So you do you're necessary due diligence.
"Obviously time is starting to press on now, we're now into September and everybody needs to know: What are Renault's plans for the future? I would have thought within the next two weeks we should all know what Renault's position is."
Unlike Mercedes, Ferrari seems willing to go into direct competition with Red Bull on the chassis side and allow it to run its engines.
"Red Bull have big names, with Adrian Newey as chief designer, and it is easy to think if you give them the engine they will build a scary chassis, which means they will be really competitive," Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene told The Guardian. "My team, my engineers and aerodynamicists know their jobs. For that reason I don't have a problem and competition is nice when you have a stronger competitor.
"This doesn't mean tomorrow morning we will give our engines to Red Bull, but I don't see any problem to give our engine to any other team or be scared of the competition before they start. This is not the right spirit of competition, of what Ferrari represents. We fight with everybody."
Red Bull used Ferrari engines in 2006 before switching to Renault in 2007, passing the Ferrari supply deal onto junior team Toro Rosso. A new deal would likely see both teams adopt Ferrari engines, which may have a knock-on effect on Sauber and Manor continuing with Ferrari engines as new team Haas will also be supplied by Ferrari.