Carlos Sainz’s big McLaren claim with Ferrari’s Austria chances rated

Carlos Sainz gets into his cockpit at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz has labelled McLaren the “most consistent car” in Formula 1 at the moment, believing the MCL38 to be “quick everywhere”.

McLaren have out-scored all their rivals, including Red Bull, in the Constructors’ Championship in the last four races alone, though Max Verstappen has continued to win races and holds a very handy lead in the Drivers’ standings.

Carlos Sainz labels McLaren ‘quick everywhere’

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

McLaren have made significant ground since their huge changes to their design philosophy brought about at last year’s Austrian Grand Prix, which saw them go from lower midfield runners to podium contenders almost in one fell swoop.

Rafts of upgrades since then have seen McLaren establish themselves as firm contenders at the front of the field as this season has gone on, with Lando Norris earning his first Grand Prix victory in Miami and having taken pole position in Spain at the weekend.

Ferrari driver Sainz pointed out that, where other teams have had off-weekends at different circuits, McLaren have not – which he finds an “impressive” feat so far this year.

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“I think, honestly, the most consistent car right now is the McLaren,” Sainz told media including PlanetF1.com in Barcelona.

“I think Red Bull are struggling in certain tracks, same as us, McLaren is quick everywhere.

“They’re quick in low speed, they’re flat in Turn 9, they were the fastest into [Turn] 5…so I just don’t see McLaren having any weakness right now.

“So yeah, for me, obviously Red Bull is still up there, but McLaren is quick everywhere – which is quite impressive.”

As for Sainz and Ferrari, the Scuderia brought an upgrade package to Barcelona but found themselves behind Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull in the pecking order – though it was extremely tight at the top last weekend.

With the rate of development being very high this season, he believes others are going that bit further with their upgrades so far, though he expects this weekend in Austria to be a better one for Ferrari.

“I think I was very vocal in Imola to say we were bringing a small upgrade and here that we were bringing a small upgrade, but so far we’ve made a big effort to bring these two small upgrades, but it seems like the others are either bringing bigger or just developing more,” Sainz explained.

“I don’t know, I think we need to wait also [for] different tracks, I think in Austria we will be more competitive.”