Carlos Sainz Jr. has praised the effort shown by the Renault Sport Formula One Team at the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, where the home driver finished seventh.
Starting ninth, having out-qualified team-mate Nico Hülkenberg for the first time this season, Sainz Jr. was on the tail of Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen throughout the race, but could not pass.
After scoring points for the fourth time in four attempts at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Sainz Jr. said: “I think this is a very positive result for me and the team.
“We can be very proud of what we’ve achieved this weekend, as this track was not ideal for us.
“We turned things around well since Friday, had a very good start, and managed to finish seventh, which I think is the best we could hope for. It feels great to get another good result at home.”
Good signs in tight midfield battle
Despite Hülkenberg’s first lap retirement, Sainz Jr’s. haul of points was good enough to see Renault leapfrog the McLaren F1 Team into fourth place in the constructors’ standings, albeit by a single point.
“It’s good progress for the midfield fight and important points for the team,” explained Sainz Jr.. “We have areas to work on, but we are making good progress.”
The result, his second successive seventh place finish in his home Grand Prix follows a fifth place finish in Azerbaijan, which was his best of the season.
After a difficult start to the campaign, he has scored points in four out of the five races so far, and finished eleventh in Bahrain.
The haul of six points for his seventh place finish move him onto nineteen for the season, while Renault has taken forty-one points from the opening five races as it looks to build upon a sixth place finish in the standings last term.
