Carlos Sainz: F1 teams “are more different than what people imagine”

Sainz had been brought the Red Bull junior programme and given a team at Toro Rosso in 2015, driving alongside Max Verstappen, where he stayed for just under three seasons.
 
Late into the 2017 season Sainz made a switch to Renault, replacing Jolyon Palmer at the French team for the last four races and the 2018 season, finishing 10th in the drivers’ standings, helping the team to a fourth-place finish.
 
But the Spaniard feels that it can be very difficult to adjust to a new team and that drivers need time to feel comfortable in a new environment.
 
Said of his previous teams to Motorsport.com: “They are very different. A lot more different than what people imagine.
 
“And the cars behave a lot more different than what people think.
 
“That’s why I think you’re seeing that every driver needs a few races to adapt to a team, to a car.

“We’ve seen it with Ricciardo this year, with Pierre, with every driver that has changed teams… Leclerc at the beginning of the year.

“You need a bit of time to find the secrets. And the teams work differently in every way, so it takes time and people underestimate how much performance you can extract from a package when you’ve been there more than one year.

“The performance that I was extracting from a Toro Rosso, that for me was not the midfield leader at any point, and sometimes being good with the Toro Rosso like I was in 2016, 2017, I only achieved it because of knowing my package and knowing how to exploit it.

 “It’s a consequence of spending a bit of time with a team and knowing how to exploit that car to the limit.”

Sainz has established himself as challenger for a top six result after initially struggling at the start, sitting in the championship at seventh with 58 points.