That is according to team boss Christian Horner.
Red Bull duo Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finished fifth and sixth respectively last term, well behind pace-setting Lewis Hamilton.
Despite optimism being high ahead of the team’s launch earlier this week, head of the driver development program Dr Helmut Marko played down Red Bull’s title chances this year.
However, Horner disagrees, insisting Hamilton will have a fight on his hands to retain his championship.
“If we’ve learned the lessons of last year, and if reliability improves, then I see no reason why we shouldn’t be on par,” he said at the RB14 launch.
Ferrari ran Mercedes closest last term.
But Horner can see a fourth team making a push for the podium this season.
“McLaren is a great team and we look forward to racing against them,” he continued.
“But we made great progress especially in the second half of last season and we hope to take that momentum into 2018.
“The rules are more or less the same, so there are many lessons we can draw from 2017 with the development of our new car.”
The 2018 F1 season gets underway next month in Melbourne, Australia.
