F1 News: Carlos Sainz Insists Red Bull Is Struggling As He Champions McLaren

Carlos Sainz praises McLaren's consistent performance surpassing even Red Bull after the Spanish Grand Prix.

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz (55) gets strapped into his car in the paddock area before the F1 Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

After the Spanish Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz of Ferrari shed light on the evolving dynamics of the F1 grid, particularly pointing to McLaren's impressive performance. In a series of candid revelations, the Spaniard surprisingly hailed McLaren as the team carrying the most consistent and powerful setup in the sport, overshadowing even the formidable Red Bull.

Speaking to the media, Sainz commented, as quoted by Motosport:

“I think honestly, the most consistent car right now is a McLaren. 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 three and nine. They were fastest in turn five.

“So I just don't see McLaren having any weakness right now. For me, Red Bull is still up there. But McLaren is quick everywhere, which is quite impressive.”

Notably, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner echoed Sainz’s sentiments, though from a slightly different angle, focusing on the strategic what-ifs of the race. He explained:

“I think if Lando would have had track position, it would have been difficult to beat him today.

“I mean, it was so close between the two of them, they were, what, 18 seconds [15 second actually] ahead of the rest of the field.“So I would say that Lando has emerged from the pack as the most consistent challenger.”

Horner also praised McLaren's durability in races, noting:

“I think McLaren looked fast, and certainly at the end of the stints which is something that we've seen at a couple of races now. So their degradation seems to be good. That was a little bit offset by the strategy and the overlap in the tyre life. But we had enough to get the job done.”

Meanwhile, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella provided a technical breakdown of the race dynamics between Red Bull and McLaren, highlighting the parity in performance that was evident at the track.

“I think the race pace was very, very similar. The fact that we were faster at the end is because we had fresher tyres. The fact that he was faster at the start is because we were behind Russell.

“But it would almost look like the great balance of performance that we had in qualifying, parity of performance - it almost transferred into the race, where normally you have some variations as a function of how you interact with the tyres.

“But at a track that is so demanding on tyres, so demanding on aerodynamics - that's really good news for the progress that we have made with the performance of the car.”