Carlos Sainz feels improvement in Renault engine at McLaren

McLaren driver Carlos Sainz thinks Renault's engine for this season has booked some significant progress compared to the power unit he had last season at the French team when he was driving there.

Sainz's debut at McLaren didn't exactly go to plan, as the Spaniard had to retire from the race after just over 10 laps, with smoke coming out of the engine. Not a great look for Renault as it was their power unit that failed, but Sainz remains optimistic.

“I feel a step forward, a step in the right direction,” the 24-year-old Sainz told Crash.net.

“I still think we are a step behind Mercedes and Ferrari’s engines, but it definitely feels like we have something to fight with now, finally. 

“I’ve done four years in F1 and all those years I’ve been 10km/h down in all the straights. So finally, to be turning up to Melbourne and just two or three km/h down is a really encouraging scenario. 

“They seem to have clear developments for the engine so that gives some positive vibes also. I would praise Renault because it finally seems they have done the step we were needing two years ago.”

With Red Bull Racing switching to Honda, McLaren is now Renault's only customer. Can they get a good performance in at Bahrain this weekend?