Marussia team principal Graeme Lowdon believes the team's car for next year is on schedule to make the first pre-season tests.
The Banbury-based team used its 2011 car for the initial tests in 2012 and the MVR-02 car was only released for the final session at Barcelona, ahead of the season's opening race in Australia.
The delay in their pre-season plans centered on the team's failure to pass a number of the mandatory crash tests new cars are subjected to.
However Lowdon is adamant that the team is on track with their MVR-03 thanks largely to the technical structure that was put in place after Nick Wirth's departure from the team.
The first practice session ahead of the 2013 season starts on February 5 at Jerez.
"It's on target at the moment, and in fact some bits are ahead," Lowdon confirmed.
"We've got a high degree of confidence. We've got a totally different structure now.
"This will be our first car that's truly our car in terms of the new people involved. The car we've just finished with was a full CFD car when we hit the first race."
Marussia ended the 2012 season in 11th place despite being in 10th after the Singapore Grand Prix, but dropped down to 11th when Caterham usurped them at the final race of the season in Brazil.
Despite their struggles in 2012, Lowdon is convinced that Marussia will be a top 10 team next year.
"I definitely think this is a top 10 team. We didn't have a top 10 car, and that's something that takes time and money," he said.
"Look at Brazil, Timo's fastest stop was faster than all the stops McLaren did. People don't notice that kind of thing, but we've now got a very, very good team. A really good structure, very tight-knit and a very low cost base.
"If we have a car that's capable of quicker laptimes, which is the other piece of the jigsaw - and everything I've seen is that next year's car is going to be a really good car - then you can't write this team off.
"I'm perfectly happy to call this team a top 10 team even if the results don't show it. I'm looking forward to Melbourne."
