Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes winning the development battle could be the key to challenging for the Formula 1 championship in 2018.
The Milton Keynes outfit is traditionally one of the strongest at finding pace gains over the course of a season, as was highlighted by their recovery from a slow start with the new rules last year.
For this season, their approach changed slightly by starting work on the new RB14 earlier with the hope of being more competitive at the start, however, after testing Horner still sees some work to do.
"Mercedes look very strong on their long runs, it looks closer between ourselves and Ferrari," he said, assessing the state of play ahead of the season opener in Australia.
"It’s all about who can develop their car the fastest over the next 21 races and nine months. Every car will be different over each race and it’s about getting those updates and those parts on the car as quickly as you can to make a difference to the performance."
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Red Bull and Mercedes are believed to have underplayed their hand during the pre-season while Ferrari set the pace, but an upgrade set for round one has world champion Lewis Hamilton watching the Anglo-Austrian team closely.
Local hero Daniel Ricciardo is also pumped up for his home race and is keen to get payback for recent disappointments at Albert Park.
"2018 is definitely time to get what we deserve in Melbourne or get what we came for, that sounds better!" he said. "I can’t wait to get the season started. I’m hanging out to get back on the track and these new cars are very fast.
"The RB14 compared to the RB13 at this stage last year is a lot different," the man from Perth added. There is a fair bit of aerodynamic change this year."
