Being a Spanish racer, Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz also took part in the official Thursday press conference held by the FIA where he too spoke about the upgrades to his car for the coming race, how he thinks he is performing this year and how he would cope if he was forced to deal with the failings om his car the way his fellow countryman Fernando Alonso has for the past few seasons….
Carlos, you've scored points in three of four races this season, sometimes after qualifying outside the top 10. Is the battle with Williams, Force India and Renault one Toro Rosso feel you can win this year?
Definitely. I think as a target Toro Rosso was very clear at the beginning of the year that they wanted to finish P5 in the championship. I think it has been an interesting start to the season, having five teams fighting for probably P4 as a best result. In my opinion, at the moment it looks like Williams has the upper hand on every one of us, having a car that is closer to the Red Bull than to us. But we are definitely making steps, little by little we are taking our chances. We have 11 points from my side, 13 from the team. We are getting there and hopefully the upgrade this race help us to get closer to them because they are that tiny step ahead at the moment.
And you're happy with how you're driving and the steps you're making?
Yeah, I think I can be pretty happy. It has been probably my best start to a Formula One season up until now. Extra year of experience is obviously helping but I think both qualifying and race have been quite good, so I cannot complain. Pretty solid start and we need to keep going like that.
Red Bull has a heavily updated car this weekend. What are you bringing and how much of the key to your season lies in the engine update from Renault whenever it comes?
Well, we are obviously bringing our upgrades, probably like any other team, we just hope that our upgrades are better than the others, particularly to those midfield [teams]. I don't look to what Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull are bringing because they are obviously in another league, with totally different budgets and totally different performance on track. Probably my only concern is to make sure that those upgrades give us those tenths we need and the others don't improve, like Williams, Renault and Haas, even McLaren, they don't improve as much as we do.
Carlos, how do you live the difficulties Fernando has had this year in his car?
Well, I think obviously very similar to all you guys. I think that Fernando at the moment with the talent and experience he has, he should be fighting for world titles and he hasn't had the chance for a lot of years now, so I really hope one day he gets back to those positions to be fighting because I'm sure he will do a good job, like he has always done, and I hope I can join him in those battles soon, and that's it. Nothing really to say, I hope he gets back on top soon.
Carlos, as you say, you've improved and you're a better driver after another year of experience. Any specific areas or is it a case of little things everywhere?
No specific areas, to be honest. I feel like since I arrived to F1 I have just improved in every single area that you can imagine. It's just experience. It comes race-by-race. You feel also a bit more confident, you get to know a lot more your car, your team. The human side also, from the team. You have better relationships with everyone, you can optimise every single part of your car, of your personal performance. All of this keeps adding and you just perform a little bit better and better every race weekend and you are able to sometimes shine a bit more; other weekends not so much because you have a bit more bad luck or something but the importance is to keep learning – as I've been doing up until now – and when you have a chance, like in China, for example, try to shine a bit extra, to show a bit yourself. Yeah, I think that's it. Experience… and more experience.
