Abu Dhabi: Renault Sport F1 Team is pleased with the investment made in young drivers with Carlos Sainz Jr bagging a favourable report card with the outfit.
The son of former double World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, he came through the ranks starting with the British and European F3 championship under the Carlin banner. In 2014, he raced for DAMS in Formula Renault 3.5 before moving on to F1 with Toro Rosso.
Midway through the season, it was announced that the 23-year-old will race for the Renault F1 team on a season long loan while still being on contract with Red Bull Racing. Sainz Jr. took Jolyon Palmer’s Renault seat beginning with the United States Grand Prix [on October 22] and he proved his worth qualifying seventh and a couple of times in eighth for the next three races.
“It’s a very good assessment. He’s clearly brought lots of energy and he’s brought his motivation, his willingness to continue to progress and to continue to show what he’s capable of outside of the sort of Red Bull environment which is a very good environment but sometimes also a strong environment for a driver to cope with. So he’s done that, he’s also scored some points and we hope he’s going to score more points on Sunday,” Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director of the team, told media late on Friday.
“He’s also shown some very useful directions for the development for next year, because he’s coming from a different environment. He was capable of bringing some ideas, suggestions. He’s got a very good understanding of the mechanics of the car, the fundamentals of the car and it’s coming at a time when things were not complete for next year. So that’s very useful and we are happy to have made that decision,” the 40-year-old Frenchman added.
