Carlos Sainz Jr. was pleased with the performance of his R.S.18 during free practice for the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday, with the Spaniard enjoying two positively strong sessions around the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
The Renault Sport Formula One Team racer, who will switch to the McLaren F1 Team in 2019 in place of the departing Fernando Alonso, set the seventh fastest time in the afternoon session and improved that to sixth under the lights in the evening, with the Spaniard ending a little over one and a half seconds back from session pacesetter Kimi Räikkönen.
Having a straightforward day in Singapore is always a positive for Sainz, who secured his best result in Formula 1 at the same venue twelve months ago whilst driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso, and although he acknowledges there is work to be done to improve, particularly on the long runs when it comes to tyre degradation, he was pleased with what happened on Friday.
“Overall, it was a pretty straightforward Friday for us, which is always good in Singapore,” said Sainz. “We had no issues and completed our run plan.
“I’m happy with today, especially the performance of the car over one lap. We have areas to work on, particularly our long runs to see what we can do better for the race.
“We have some things to learn on tyre degradation, but in general it was a good day for us.”
