Christian Horner says Red Bull has taken risks with its car this season that its rivals would not have contemplated, but the team is still braced for a slow start to the year.
Red Bull launched its new livery on its 2015 car at an event in London on Wednesday ahead of the track debut of its 2016 car at the first test on Monday. The team is renowned for building some of the best chassis in recent years and Horner said it is still pushing the boundaries in the current regulations.
"We've got our heads down and hope to create surprises later on in the year," Horner said when asked about the team's prospects for 2016. "We know that the first half of the year is different. For example, Toro Rosso has bolted in 0.8 seconds into their car through a different power unit -- that is a significant amount of performance. We are hoping to make similar gains throughout the year but obviously the chassis is going to have to prop that up.
"The team morale is really strong despite the lateness of engine decisions and everyone got their heads down to make a competitive car for this year. They pushed to the wire. We hadn't done any crash tests until Monday this week and completed them all in three days. The last one about an hour ago. We take risks which other teams would never dream of. That is our DNA and the competitive drive."
Red Bull's main weakness last year was its Renault engine, but Horner is more optimistic this season with its TAG-Heuer-badged power unit.
"We've had some constructive discussions with Renault over the months and they seem to be acting on some of them. They've embraced Mario Illien, made changes to their technical infrastructure and got quality personnel involved now like Bob Bell. I think change will start to be addressed there. That is going to take time. We are going to keep an open mind, certainly through the first half of the year."
Horner said Red Bull still has the ability to surprise its rivals this year.
"I think most teams have probably written Red Bull off for this year. We are fighters and focused on getting ourselves into a competitive position and I think it would be foolhardy to write a team off with the calibre of people Red Bull has."