When Red Bull first entered Formula One the accent clearly appeared to be more about fun than winning. However, as things progressed the team got serious and the Formula Una girls were forced to make way for Adrian Newey and his clipboard.

Ahead of a new season with new regulations, Christian Horner is excited not only by the changes that he feels will shake up the pecking order in terms of drivers but the prospect of teams making improvements all the way to Abu Dhabi. Indeed, he wonders whether one of the teams might have a Brawn-like trick up its sleeve already.

"We went into the winter on a real high," admits the Red Bull boss, "momentum really built during the course of last year. We developed the car well, we raced well, strategically we were strong. But this is a clean piece of paper, and that, for any designer, any engineer, is an exciting challenge.

"A few years ago, in 2009, there was the double diffuser," he continues, "is there a gizmo like that that we've missed, that somebody else has found?

Hopefully not," he adds. "hopefully we'll be competitive."

Following the nightmare of 2015, Renault made major progress last season, and the Milton Keynes based outfit is hoping for even more progress this time around.

"It's a brand new engine for this year, a change of philosophy," says the Briton. "They've had a big winter.

"We're hoping for a step in performance, and if that's delivered then hopefully we can really be a challenger team this year, and give the Mercedes and Ferraris a hard time.

"Mercedes are the triple world champions, they're the team to beat," he admits. "They've set the bar pretty high, but that's what we're aspiring to.

"Hopefully we can be a real challenger team," he continues. "I think the driver line-up we have is fantastic, we've had great stability in the team, and we're excited about the year ahead."

"We've probably got the best driver pairing on the grid. It's so exciting to see the development and evolution of Max Verstappen as he grows in experience and confidence... at the heady age of 19.

And Daniel, for me (and Pitpass editor, Chris Balfe) was the driver of the year last year, he put in some phenomenal performances. He's right at the top of his game, his confidence is high.

"The dynamics between the two is great, they're going to push each other incredibly hard which is great from the team perspective. I couldn't wish for two better, more motivated, drivers in our cars.

"They're both ferocious racers, their race-craft on a Sunday afternoon, I don't think there's any drivers out there that are better overtakers than our two guys. Both are tremendously dedicated and enjoying what they do, they love what they do, you can see they really revel in being Grand Prix drivers... and they're having fun along the way. There's sort of a big brother, little brother mentality going on, they live in the same apartment block. It's a great pairing to have."

Referring to the rule changes for 2017 he says: "The cars are going to look different, they're more aggressive looking, they're going to look great. They'll be four or five seconds a lap quicker, a bigger physical challenge to drive. How that impacts the racing is going to be fascinating to see. I think we're set for some fascinating Grands Prix this year, for sure we're going to see a different pecking order in the drivers because these cars are really going to stretch their abilities."

Of the team's 2017 contender, due to be unveiled on Sunday, he says: "The RB13 is one of the prettiest cars that we've designed and made, because the geometry of the car under these new regulations, the proportions look right, it looks mean, it looks fast, it's that old adage, if it looks right, it tends to go alright. And this car for sure looks right.

"In the factory there's a real air of excitement," he admits, "it's been a few months where we have not been at the race track, you can see people are itching to get going again. There's a real buzz of anticipation around the factory and it's been building and building.

"It's going to be exciting to see who's got it right and who's got it wrong, and then, of course, there's going to be a development race all the way from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi. You'll see big increments early on because the regulations are pretty immature, I think there's going to be 'low hanging fruit' early on to make sizeable steps. That's going to push every department in the team as they try to out-wit, out-smart, out-develop, out-produce our rivals and that's going to be a stellar challenge."

Asked about recent changes in the sport, he says: "Red Bull's ethos towards Formula One has always been about the sport, and as a sport it has to be entertaining, it has to be about man and machine at the absolute limit. I think perhaps we need to think a little less about technology a bit more about the 'ultimate chariot racing' that Formula One should be.

"Moving forward there's a really great opportunity to address some of those points; bring the noise back to Formula One, turn the volume up. The cars look great this year, it would be fantastic if they sounded like they look.

"Make the drivers the stars," he continues, clearly warming to the subject, "make them the heroes that they should be.

"Give more access to those drivers, and the personalities that exist in Formula One, they are the core elements that need to be focussed on."

Looking ahead to testing, he admits: "It's always an anxious moment before the car runs for the first time, for it to drive out of the garage and down the pitlane. The first thing that you want to see is that it comes back at the end of the lap! It's an exciting moment to see the car break cover.

"And of course the testing, people get sucked into who's doing what time, which fuel loads, who's doing what race runs, etc. It's all irrelevant, in reality. You've got to focus on your own programme, put your blinkers on, get through your programme of work, the developments that you want to look at.

"Because it's all going to change by the time you get to Melbourne anyway. It's interesting to see the buzz and tension that surrounds those tests, but we've become pretty good here over the last few winters at just focussing on ourselves and our own programme."