Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

My performances are being overlooked - Sainz

Carlos Sainz says he feels his performances are being overlooked while the main focus is on his Toro Rosso team-mate Max Verstappen.

Verstappen has been in the spotlight following the Monaco Grand Prix, with the 17-year-old finish FP1 in second place but then crashing heavily after a collision with Romain Grosjean in the race. Sainz went from the pit lane to finish in the points in the same race, and his return of nine points from his first six races is the best start to a career for any driver at Toro Rosso over the same period.

Speaking to F1i in Montreal, when asked if he has been overlooked so far this season, Sainz replied: “Yeah, clearly.

“It’s how it is at the moment and I need to accept it. I don’t really care as far as the team knows what I’m doing, even if out there in the press and everything they don’t speak too much about me, I know in the team they are very happy with me, they are supporting me a lot and they are all happy.

“So that is my main concern, Franz Tost, Helmut Marko and company at the moment. I’m calm about that even though it is true that people are not so much speaking about me.”

And Sainz admits he has surpassed even his own expectations so far this season, having scored points in four of the six races so far.

“Yeah I think it has been a bit better than expectations that I had for myself. I knew I could do a good job but so far the first six races have been really good. Unfortunately we have only done six races and not a full year! There is still another two thirds of the campaign to follow but I will keep doing my best. I think it’s been a positive start and now we need to keep working and keep doing what we’re doing.

“There will be tough moments this year for sure where the critics will come again and all that, as always happens in Formula One, but at least I’ve had a first six positive races.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.