Sir Richard Branson has brought forward his aim for Virgin Racing to become realistic title contenders.

Branson is enthused by the progress of Red Bull Racing who went from start-up team to championship hopefuls last year by season five.

The Milton Keynes marque would have started this season as they ended last, with Sebastian Vettel victorious, but for a faulty spark plug that denied him a pole-to-flag triumph in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Instead, a loss of power subjected Vettel to passes from Ferrari duo Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, as well as the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, ultimately relegating the German to fourth by race end.

But in season six for Red Bull, there is no doubt they are strong contenders again, with Branson believing his fledgling outfit can follow suit, potentially in double-quick time.

It was, though, an inauspicious beginning for Branson's team at the Sakhir circuit as Lucas di Grassi retired on lap three, suffering a loss of hydraulic pressure, whilst Timo Glock had gearbox issues that brought his race to a close on lap 18.

Despite that, an optimistic Branson remarked: "Look at Red Bull, who were ahead of Ferrari, which is fantastic, for all of their talk.

"One day, hopefully, Virgin will overtake Red Bull. You've got to start somewhere, and we have a couple of hundred people enjoying the challenge.

"If the rules are adhered to and everyone comes within a £40million budget we're working to this year, in a couple of years' time we will know how to run a team at that level.

"The other teams will have to come down to that, so things will start equalling out.

"Yes, they'll still have quite a few more years under their belt, but we've a lot of guys with a lot of experience here.

"So we're hoping three to five years (to be challenging), rather than five years. Who is to know? But you have to aim for it."

It barely seems feasible, but technical director Nick Wirth - whose CFD-designed car has raised a few eyebrows amongst his peers in the paddock - insists Branson is not reaching for the stars too soon.

"I genuinely think it can be achieved. We've a very ambitious development programme going on," said Wirth in support.

"I wouldn't want to tell you how many seconds we're going to put on the car this year.

"Richard knows that, and it would be a record if we could achieve it, particularly within the budget.

"People talk about how much McLaren sped up last year, and we think we can do some fairly impressive things, despite this rigid budget we're working to, and progress from there.

"We're really proud and excited about taking this forward."

Although Branson is not a hands-on boss, he is not allowing Wirth to rest as he is eager for Virgin Racing to quickly be successful as with any of his other projects.

"When we were having our hydraulic problems (in pre-season testing) Richard was on the phone and was quite active," remarked Wirth.

"He was concerned we were having issues and wanted to know how we were fixing it, and got quite involved in that process.

"It's great to have someone, whose name is on the team, who is interested and passionate about it.

"It's wonderful for us to work together, taking the first steps towards our joint goals."