Sainz stays focussed on Renault, not on 2019 speculation

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Carlos Sainz says he's not worried by how the start of the 2018 season has gone for him so far.

The Spanish driver has finished in the top ten twice so far, but admitted to a disappointing run in Bahrain.

However his Renault team mate Nico Hulkenberg has had a significantly better start to the year by comparison. The German driver has out-qualified and finished ahead of Sainz in all three races to date.

"I'm not very concerned,' the 23-year-old insisted this week. "I'm working really hard in Enstone.

"I've been pretty much there before and after every race, trying to learn and analyse everything.

"I'm confident that with hard work and 18 races ahead it should come back [to me]," he added.

Sainz 'still playing catch-up' to Hulkenberg at Renault

Sainz's optimism was backed by his compatriot Marc Gene, a former Ferrari F1 test driver.

"Carlos has had a difficult start, but it's only three races in," Gene told AS newspaper. "He still has many races to demonstrate his potential

"He's done well. He's been very fast.

"But in the key moments, in qualifying especially, he has not been able to get a great lap," Gene admitted.

The spotlight is on Sainz as he's the heir apparent to a seat at Red Bull Racing, should Daniel Ricciardo decide to leave the team at the end of 2018.

A graduate of the Red Bull driver programme, Sainz raced for Toro Rosso until last summer. He's currently on load for a year to Renault, but his future remains uncertain.

"I'm obviously still having some contact with [Red Bull]," Sainz said.

"It's a good thing to be in contact with the whole paddock. And especially the guys who have given you your opportunity to be in Formula 1.

"But from my side I'm still in the Renault project," he stated. "I'm working here like I was going to be here forever and not thinking about 2019.

"When the right moment comes about talking about 2019, don't worry, I will be the first one to start talking about it.

"But I just owe Renault and this team 100 per cent focus in Baku."

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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.