Even after logging about 151 laps in the first week of pre-season test, Renault driver Carlos Sainz says he has not “really started testing” the RS18’s full potential.
Amidst the rain and the snow disruptions, F1 conducted its first four-day pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. While the first day went without too much trouble, in the next three days all the teams lost a lot of time because of the poor weather. Sainz says he doesn’t feel like he has done more than a full day of testing. But from his 151 laps, he is certain the RS18 has “very big potential.”
Speaking with GrandPX, Sainz said: “I haven’t tested yet,”
“I have run, but I haven’t really started testing the car, setting it up for my liking, going in one direction, the other.”
“I haven’t felt fully at home yet in the car, but that’s why I think we have still very big potential ahead of us.
“If we start doing things properly and we start testing and we start going in the right direction, I have still big margins of improvement to be more comfortable in the car.”
On the final day of the testing, the Spaniard clocked his best laptime at 1m20.940s running on medium tyres. He was just 1.6s off the top pace setter of the week, Lewis Hamilton.
Talking about how the car performed on the new compound, Sainz said: “To get the medium to work is a positive sign, there’s not many teams out there who are really running the medium, and today we managed to switch on the medium and do a good long run on it.
“Balance-wise, still not there, still we have huge margins of improvement, so I’m going to be patient, wait for next week.”
After a mid-season switch, Sainz feels he has finally settled in the Renault team. The Spaniard insists he needs more mileage on the car to enable him to know the best settings for his RS18 to be ready for the season’s first race in Melbourne.
“The last four races last year helped to get to know everyone [at Renault] and to give my feedback regarding last year’s car,” he said.
“And now I just need testing, because racing is not the same as testing. Actually, my father always told me that where you win the races is in testing.
“And I hadn’t had the chance yet to really test the car, follow different directions.
“Normally Melbourne has been a good race for me. I think [it’s] because I’ve come up from the last day of testing with a good baseline on the car that gives me confidence and I managed to attack the streets of Melbourne how I like.
“It’s not an easy track to go there for the first time in a year, you need really big confidence with the car.”
Although a lot of time was lost in the first round of testing, Sainz is confident the second round will be sufficient for him to be ready for the Australian Grand Prix, if there are no more disruptions.
“I think I have time, personally,” he said. “I don’t know the others, but I think if we have a clean week, I have time to do some maybe shorter runs and go through more tyres and just go in different directions.
“I think I have time, but then we will need a clean week.”
