Sainz: Force India a threat for fourth

Renault's Carlos Sainz believes that Racing Point Force India pose a threat to the team in fourth in the constructor standings. Previously, Renault had been fighting intensely with Haas over the best of the rest spot, behind the top three teams however Sainz says the pink panthers pose a threat.

Despite the fact that Force India was stripped of their points and technically became a new team, Sainz believes that they pose the biggest threat to Renault's hold on fourth, citing their strong performances since being reset to zero points.

"Our target was to finish fourth in the constructors' and if it was not for the penalty they suffered (Force India's reset in the standings) they would be ahead of us by pure performance," Sainz told Autosport.

"We need to be very careful with Force India. We know that in the second half of the season they always start to come alive and they've proved it once more - once they've got a bit of money and everything.

"A track like Singapore where we expected to be ahead, we're behind."

Sainz did say that Renault was still pushing to hold onto the spot, bringing upgrades between now and the end of the season to ensure they stay ahead in the race for vital constructor standings prize money.

"We know our car is strong in low-speed corners. We generate quite a lot of grip and load in low-speed, but we know our ride through kerbs and bumps is not where it should be compared with other teams. We keep working on it but it's probably still our main point.

"A big part of it is also the engine, we're stuck with the B-spec (because changing would bring grid penalties) and the others have brought massive steps during the year which we haven't been able to bring.

"We're going to make sure we give everything to hold onto that P4. It's going to be a tough second half of the season."