Carlos Sainz had “a good feeling” with the McLaren project

Integrated into the Renault fold F1 Team after leaving the one Red Bull, Carlos Sainz had made the bet McLaren for 2019.

Au coeur d’une écurie en pleine refonte, avec l’arrivée d’Andreas Seidl en provenance de Porsche, l’Espagnol a pu bénéficier des progrès de la car from Woking and a relatively comfortable Renault engine to achieve some good results throughout the year.

Despite three first races outside the points, the son of the double world rally champion gradually gained confidence, showing himself to be the pillar of McLaren in the fight with Renault and Toro Rosso for fourth place in the Manufacturers' championship, behind the trio Mercedes - Ferrari - Red Bull.

“I had good feelings when I moved to McLaren, even though things didn't look very promising at the end of 2018, confesses Sainz on the discipline website. I had a few conversations with a lot of engineers, a lot of people – Zak [Brown] and the others.

I don't know, the project itself was giving me good vibes. I don't know if that has anything to do with the good results, but those good vibes translated very quickly into results and a change in approach from McLaren, a very big change in the structure of the team. »

Sainz also scored his best career result with a third place in Brazil at the end of a Grand Prix with a crazy scenario and with the penalty of Lewis Hamilton.

And with his 10th place acquired in the final moments of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix against Nico Hulkenberg, the Spaniard took sixth place in the Drivers' standings by one point against Pierre Gasly. Confirmation expected in 2020? One thing is certain, Woking seems to be on the right track.