Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo and advisor Helmut Marko are both feeling more confident about the team's chances in 2018, with work on the RB14 ahead of schedule.
The Milton Keynes outfit is hoping to avoid a repeat of the slow start to this season, which saw them fall behind Mercedes and Ferrari as the third best team despite rule changes which were expected to suit their strength in aerodynamics.
Their situation wasn't helped by correlation issues between the data coming from the windtunnel and that gathered on the racetrack but Marko admits it is a long-standing problem the team has had.
"For many years the philosophy of Adrian Newey was to present the car as late as possible, but for next year we have changed the approach," he told Austria's Servus TV. "Now we are ahead of schedule by two weeks compared to last year."
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Red Bull's ambitions for 2018 were already much improved after their strength of find performance throughout the year was repeated and resulted in two wins on merit for Max Verstappen in Malaysia and Mexico.
"The rate of development has been amazing, so I'm hoping if we can start on the right foot in 2018, you would argue we would be the favourites," Ricciardo claimed, speaking to Motorsport.com.
"If we started with Mercedes and Ferrari [levels of performance], our development is pretty strong."
As has been the case throughout the hybrid era, however, much of Red Bull's competitiveness will depend on one thing, as Marko pointed out.
"If the engine is reliable, we will be able to fight in the leading group already from the first race of the season," he said, putting the pressure on Renault.
