McLaren Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz believes Racing Point is masking the pace of his controversial “pink Mercedes” and could be among the best midfield teams this season.
Racing Point’s new RP20 is a radical change from the team’s previous car, and in terms of overall concept and aerodynamic details has much in common with the 2019 championship-winning Mercedes W10 – a development than others teams described it as “concerning”.
Although different fuel charges and tire compounds make it impossible to fully decode the pitch order after the two Barcelona tests, Sainz suggested that Racing Point had not shown its full potential after a few impressive first laps and fast.
“I think all the teams, at one point in the tests, had a very good time, so it is very difficult to know who is in front or behind the midfielder,” he said.
“I think Racing Point and even the AlphaTauri would put them like probably the most dangerous guys to beat.
“The team [McLaren] does not have a clear idea of our distance from the first three.
“But we will immediately see in FP1, FP2 [in Melbourne], when we run the same fuel charges or more or less.
“In the midfield, Racing Point – they were very fast every two weeks.
“They hit the runway the first day and they made a [1m]17.3.
“And since then, they haven’t improved much because I don’t think they want it – but that 17.3 the first day, I think it impressed us all and they’re going to be fast, very fast.”
McLaren finished last season leading the midfield in terms of points scored, but Sainz expects the battle behind the top three teams will be even tighter this year.
“We have added good support to the car and we are happier than 12 months ago,” he added.
“The car feels much better, especially in sectors one and two [at Barcelona] we are very well balanced.
“The last sector today was a little better, but our weakness and something we have to work on as a team.
“I think there are still differences in how the teams work in fuel or in engine mode [in testing] and we have to take it into account.
“We cannot draw too many conclusions, we have to keep analyzing ourselves, and I think we are doing a very good job of dissecting our performance levels in different sectors and trying things to improve it.”
“And the differences you’re trying to spot, you see that 10 pounds is three or four tenths [of a second].
“It is therefore impossible to draw a conclusion because with three tenths in the middle of the field, you go from P7 on the grid to P17.
“So who has the last three tenths in their pocket? Or who used the last three tenths of the car? Nobody knows.”
McLaren Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz believes Racing Point is masking the pace of his controversial “pink Mercedes” and could be among the best midfield teams this season.
Racing Point’s new RP20 is a radical change from the team’s previous car, and in terms of overall concept and aerodynamic details has much in common with the 2019 championship-winning Mercedes W10 – a development than others teams described it as “concerning”.
Although different fuel charges and tire compounds make it impossible to fully decode the pitch order after the two Barcelona tests, Sainz suggested that Racing Point had not shown its full potential after a few impressive first laps and fast.
“I think all the teams, at one point in the tests, had a very good time, so it is very difficult to know who is in front or behind the midfielder,” he said.
“I think Racing Point and even the AlphaTauri would put them like probably the most dangerous guys to beat.
“The team [McLaren] does not have a clear idea of our distance from the first three.
“But we will immediately see in FP1, FP2 [in Melbourne], when we run the same fuel charges or more or less.
“In the midfield, Racing Point – they were very fast every two weeks.
“They hit the runway the first day and they made a [1m]17.3.
“And since then, they haven’t improved much because I don’t think they want it – but that 17.3 the first day, I think it impressed us all and they’re going to be fast, very fast.”
McLaren finished last season leading the midfield in terms of points scored, but Sainz expects the battle behind the top three teams will be even tighter this year.
“We have added good support to the car and we are happier than 12 months ago,” he added.
“The car feels much better, especially in sectors one and two [at Barcelona] we are very well balanced.
“The last sector today was a little better, but our weakness and something we have to work on as a team.
“I think there are still differences in how the teams work in fuel or in engine mode [in testing] and we have to take it into account.
“We cannot draw too many conclusions, we have to keep analyzing ourselves, and I think we are doing a very good job of dissecting our performance levels in different sectors and trying things to improve it.”
“And the differences you’re trying to spot, you see that 10 pounds is three or four tenths [of a second].
“It is therefore impossible to draw a conclusion because with three tenths in the middle of the field, you go from P7 on the grid to P17.
“So who has the last three tenths in their pocket? Or who used the last three tenths of the car? Nobody knows.”