Red Bull has become the first of Formula One’s front-running teams to break cover with their new car for the forthcoming season.

The team from Milton Keynes – which boasts one of the best driver pairings on the grid in Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo – will hope their new design will challenge Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team this term.

The new car, which is being run for the first time by Ricciardo at Silverstone on Monday, has been launched with a special edition livery ahead of the first winter test.

Red Bull revealed their race colours for the new campaign will be unveiled at the opening pre-season test which gets under way in Barcelona next week.

The former world champions follow in the footsteps of British team Williams and the American outfit Haas who both unveiled their 2018 cars last week.

Hamilton is due to take the wraps off the Mercedes he hopes will fire him to a fifth championship at Silverstone on Thursday, while Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari team will unveil their challenger from their Maranello base on the same day.

The new Aston Martin Red Bull Racing TAG-Heuer RB14
The new Aston Martin Red Bull Racing TAG-Heuer RB14 (Aston Martin Red Bull Racing/PA)

Red Bull, spearheaded by Vettel, won four consecutive driver and constructors’ championships between 2010 and 2013, but have failed to launch a serious assault on either title since, and finished a distant third in the team championship last year.

Ricciardo, who is out of contract at the end of the upcoming campaign, won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last year, while Verstappen claimed victories at two of the final six rounds in Malaysia and Mexico.

The 20-year-old Dutchman also committed his future to Red Bull towards the end of last year after signing a bumper new deal until the end of 2020.

The first test gets under way in Barcelona on February 26, with Hamilton opening the defence of his title in Melbourne four weeks’ later.