Sainz: "We should fear everyone" in tight midfield battle

At plenty of races last season, the most interesting battle was not at the front of the pack or for the podium places, but for the lower scoring points positions in the midfield.

Renault, Force India, Haas, McLaren, Sauber and Toro Rosso were often all battling for just a few positions inside the top ten, which made the battle so interesting.

In the end it was

’s Renault team that came out on top and grabbed fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Now at McLaren, Sainz believes that the midfield battle could be even closer in 2019.

The Spaniard said: "If [Sauber] are actually now the strongest midfield team, I think we should all fear them. But next year we should fear everyone," Sainz said.

McLaren is continuing to recover from a period of difficulty with Honda engines, and have a five year plan to win races once again.

Sainz continued: "You think about McLaren with a whole new project and wanting to invest and wanting to go back to P4 in the championship after a difficult year.