Szafnauer: Aston Martin will run a predominantly new car in 2021

The changes come in response to the new aerodynamic tweaks pertaining to the rear part of the car's floor, which F1 introduced in a bid to reduce downforce levels.

However, Szafnauer confirmed that the team were sticking with the low rake philosophy that they adopted last season after basing the design of the RP20 on the 2019 world championship-winning Mercedes W10.

"We didn’t have the normal latitude of development that we usually do, so from a philosophy standpoint in running a low-rake car, that has stayed the same," he told Sky Sports F1. “Having said that, even though we didn’t have a lot of latitude for development, the FIA did make aerodynamic changes, and significant ones to take downforce away and slow us down.

"Because of that, we have had to redevelop the whole thing.

“This is the first time that a carryover car has had many of its parts new, so although the philosophy is carryover we will still have a lot of new parts on the car, a lot of new aerodynamic development, even a new chassis for us as well.

“Although the car will be similar to last year, it’s predominantly new.”

Having been rebadged as Aston Martin over the off-season, the 56-year-old admitted that they will face tough competition from the likes of Ferrari and McLaren as they seek to finish third in the constructors' championship.

“I don’t think it will be easy, we’ve got some formidable competitors there," he added.

"Ferrari will work hard over the winter to do better than they did last year; McLaren gets a new powertrain, the same one that we have, and I’m sure they did that for reasons of competitiveness.

“And then there are some driver movements as well, so we’ll see how all that pans out. There are some differences.

“And, of course, the FIA have big rule changes. They took out big chunks of the floor for us to lose downforce and depending on how the teams claw that downforce back, that’ll have a big impact on performance as well.

"So there are some things that have changed over the winter, and it will be really interesting to see the job everybody has done and how it pans out in the competitiveness stakes."