The Dutchman's Red Bull team will launch its RB14 on Monday, several days before its main rivals Mercedes and Ferrari will unveil their own challengers.

While Verstappen is eager to see how competitive his new car will be, he is clear that he is far from thrilled with how the mandatory halo looks.

"The halo - that will be very ugly," he said in a pre-season video interview for Red Bull. "I am not looking forward to that!

"In general I hope the car will look great and hopefully it is fast. Hopefully it is a good step forward and we have got straight away a good car for the beginning of the year, so we are not really chasing, like we did last year.

"That is the most important for us."

Weight penalty

The addition of the halo in 2018 has added extra weight to the cars, and some F1 teams may struggle to hit the minimum 734kg their machines are allowed to be.

Such a scenario could penalise heavier drivers like Verstappen more, as they could be pushed further over the weight limit, but the Dutchman insists he will not force himself to go on a crash diet to lose any extra kilogrammes.

"Because the halo is quite heavy, it will be more than six kilos, it is definitely not favourable for me," he said.

"But I am not going to adjust my training for it, because otherwise I won't feel well during the races. Especially for me being a taller driver and also a bit of a heavier driver than most, it is definitely not ideal."

Speaking about Red Bull's level of optimism ahead of pre-season testing, Verstappen said: "The mood is good, I guess. Everybody is happy, everybody is motivated for the new season after a strong end to last season, and I think we can't wait to get going again.

"Of course, holidays are nice and it is good to charge the batteries, but at one point you want to get going again."