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

Carlos Sainz has said that teams in Formula 1 “are more different than what people imagine” having experienced changes between three teams in the past two years from Toro Rosso to McLaren.

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.