Carlos Sainz Jr. is struggling to learn “little tricks” to surpass his team mate Nico Hulkenberg.
The 23-year-old Spaniard was able to finish 10th, 11th and ninth in the first three races of the new season, whereas Hulkenberg marked seventh, sixth and sixth position in it Renault’s Formula 1 car.
Sainz faced drinking bottle issue in his F1 car, which had been pumping water since first lap. He had been performing better than Hulkenberg in Australian GP, which he couldn’t keep in Q3 due to bottle issue.
In Chinese GP, Sainz made a lead against his team mate in the opening corners of the track, but he met an accident with Daniel Ricciardo putting him behind Hulkenberg.
Sainz admired his team mate, “For sure, Nico is very strong in qualifying. I think he has always been.
“Probably with this car even more. He understands it very well.
“You could already see it, when I arrived in the team last year, he has these little tricks, little things that make him go very, very fast in qualifying, which I’m still discovering and adapting.
“In Melbourne I was half a second clear of him in qualifying in Q2. The other two races, I was bit behind, so I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
Sainz was not surprised at the pace of Hulkenberg as he described it.
“He also has a year of experience with the car. That is helping him to arrive [at tracks] and have the race of last year to know how the car reacted to changes, to driving style, etc,” He said.
“He is a bloody fast guy, and on top of that he is very experienced. You can see it, all the time he is on track, he is on it.
“I’m still in my fourth year, but still learning a lot of stuff from the car at the same time. And I’m catching up little by little.
“It’s a 21-race year. We have done three. In one of them I have been the faster car. So I am not worried at all.”
Sainz is optimistic about his team’s capabilities and performances that they had pulled irrespective of low pace he struggled with at Bahrain GP.
“I think in Australia I was the faster car, Bahrain I was quite slow to be honest.
“In qualifying especially, I feel we are very good,” he added, “somehow we are not as competitive in the race as we are in qualifying.”
“And we are still trying to understand it.”
