Red Bull has vowed to continuously improve the pace of its RB16B after narrowly losing the Bahrain Grand Prix to Mercedes.

The Milton Keynes based team continued its good form from testing to top every timed session of the weekend, with Max Verstappen securing pole position by over three-tenths of a second.

But Verstappen came up just short in the race after a controversial turn four pass, which saw the Dutchman go off the track to pass for Hamilton for the lead before giving up the position in the fear that a five-second penalty would be applied for breach of track limits.

Despite their defeat, Red Bull have announced a major update programme to make the RB16B even quicker than it was in Bahrain as the team seeks its first championship for eight years.

Chief designer Paul Monaghan has announced the RB16B's upgrade process will occur during the opening rounds of the European session. 

"Some developments are already in the pipeline for Imola, more for subsequent races, so it’s now a two-pronged fight; we need this car to be put down on the ground and run and give us no hiccups. We will put as much performance onto the car as we possibly can by Imola."

“Our destiny is in our control, and we can’t influence what Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and everybody else want to do. So we’ve got to remain focused.”

Nevertheless, the team is focused on the task at hand at perfecting their car for the battle ahead.

“We’ve identified some areas where the car can be improved, and we concentrate on those. We can’t influence what the others do, so we’ve got to develop it, we’ve got to make it bulletproof; it’s not all about going to Imola and chalking a win up on the board to say 'oh we’re world champions' – that’s not going to happen,”.

“It’s going to be a long fight for a long season, and it’s not won and lost here in Bahrain.