McLaren's Carlos Sainz was impressed with the performance on Friday in Austria of midfield rival Racing Point, to the point where the Spaniard believes the pink outfit is "too far away" to fight.
Sergio Perez concluded his opening day of running at the Red Bull Ring with the third best time, beaten only by the unassailable Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
But teammate Lance Stroll's P7 result in FP2 validated Racing Point's form and the edge enjoyed by the team's RP20, nicknamed the "pink Mercedes" by its midfield rivals.
Sainz, who clocked in 10th in the Friday afternoon session, says the Silverstone-based squad's pace is impressive.
"Racing Point were particularly quick today," said Sainz. "We were expecting them to be quick, but in such a short circuit, to have the advantage they had against the rest of the midfield is particularly impressive.
"My opinion is that they are way too far away to try and mount a fight to them. But at least Renault, we look to be in the ballpark with them, so it’s going to be good fun still."
Lando Norris outpaced his teammate in FP2, finishing the session a creditable P6. But the McLaren charger agreed with Sainz that Racing Point will likely be out of reach this weekend.
"[Racing Point are] a bit ahead of us for sure," he said. "I don’t think we’re looking at them too much in terms of what our pace is going to be like.
"The rest of the midfield pack, it’s hard to say because Red Bull and Ferrari seem not as quick as they were last year here.
"I think we’ve taken a step forward, and the whole of the midfield’s taken a step forward, so it’s going to be interesting.
"I think tomorrow, everyone will turn it up and lower fuel and everything so we’ll see, but I think for now we’re just focusing on ourselves, trying to explore the car, find out some new information."
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