McLaren's Carlos Sainz and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg are both on the same page when it comes to nominating F1's current mid-field leader, with Haas singled-out as the top contender.
The US outfit's performance in the opening round of the 2019 season, where Kevin Magnussen finished 'best of the race', left a big impression on Sainz, with the Spaniard evaluating the performance advantage of Haas' VF-19 at a worrying "half a second" in qualifying trim.
"Haas, they are a bit too far ahead in the midfield for everyone else," Sainz said in Bahrain.
"That is the only bad thing compared to last year, that the Haas is a bit too far away compared to last year.
"It is more than half a second, to close a gap of half a second even in a high development rate this season it would be a very difficult task."
Hulkenberg, whose team won the mid-field battle last year, is equally complimentary of Haas' performance although the German still feels the action will be tight in F1's B-class this season.
"I think Haas are currently leading the midfield," said Hulkenberg.
"The car looks good all round. I also think it’s very close but I think the Haas will be better than us in the fast corners."
Sainz has urged McLaren to sustain a healthy development pace this season. But Haas will likely follow suit, leaving its rivals to chase the US team.
©Haas
"They won’t standstill so you need to develop at least seven or eight tenths which is a lot of lap time. My big estimate is it is going to be very difficult to end the year in front of Haas in qualifying.
"I wouldn’t say in a race but in pure pace it is going to be very difficult for anyone.
"I don’t look at numbers as much as the engineers, I just do my guesses looking at lap times and how good their lap times were compared to mine or my team-mate’s.
"I did a rough calculation, this is not an exact number. Half a second is a lot but we will try."
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