Carlos Sainz Jr. says the McLaren F1 Team are in a happier position after pre-season testing than they were in 2019, but the Spaniard knows it is too soon to evaluate just where the team sit in relation to their rivals.
2019 was a positive season for McLaren, with the team surging to fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, with Sainz clinching his maiden Formula 1 podium in the madness that was the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Heading into 2020, the team are hoping to at least consolidate their position at the front of the midfield, but with times across testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya being extremely tight from all ten teams on the grid, there is no way of knowing just who is where in relation to everyone else.
“We’ve added some good downforce to the car and we’re happier than we were 12 months ago,” Sainz is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “The car feels much better, especially in sector one and two [at Barcelona] we’re very well balanced.
“The last sector today looked at bit better but still our weakness and something that we need to be working on as a team. I think there’s still differences in how teams are running in fuel loads or in engine modes [in testing] and we need to take that into account.
“We cannot take too many conclusions, we need to keep analysing ourselves, and I think we we’re doing a pretty good job on dissecting our performance levels in different sectors and trying things to make it better.
“And the differences you’re trying to spot, you see 10 kilos is three or four tenths [of a second]. So it’s impossible to take a conclusion because with three tenths in the midfield you go from being P7 on the grid to being the P17.
“So who has the last three tenths in the pocket? Or who has used the last three tenths of the car? No one knows.”
