F1 drivers should be allowed time to unlock new car 'secrets'

Carlos Sainz has highlighted the big differences between the teams, as well as the cars, in Formula1, and believes drivers should be given enough time to get to grips with the “secrets” in their new cars.

In his career, Sainz has performed for Toro Rosso, Renault, and now McLaren, where he is impressing in 2019 alongside new team-mate Lando Norris.

As someone who has experience of having to adapt to new surroundings, the Spaniard claims that people who are not within the sport underestimate how hard it can be moving teams.

“They are very different,” Sainz said of his current and former teams.

“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.

Sainz reckons there are drivers on the grid at the moment who are proving that spending time with the one team and improving and evolving together as one is beneficial.

“You see [Racing Point’s Sergio] Perez, you see [Max] Verstappen now with Red Bull, you see [Lewis] Hamilton with Mercedes. It’s a consequence of spending a bit of time with a team and knowing how to exploit that car to the limit.”'

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