New Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz says that the team has definitely made improvements compared to last year's dismal performance - but that more work remains to be done.
“More or less, what we are seeing from the car is what we expected," Sainz told Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper Mundo Deportivo last week after three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain.
“It’s still too early to draw conclusions. What I can assure you is we have more power than last year. We measure it and we see it. That’s good news.
"But you still have to wait a bit for the first race," he acknowledged. "We are happy with what we see and relatively satisfied with the correlation between track and simulation. Now what we need to see is where the others are.
“I don’t think we will be the fastest on the straights, I’m not going to deceive you. But we must not forget that last year we came from far behind and this year at least we have to make a step forward.
“What happens is that I’m pretty sure the others have also gained power," he cautioned.
“No matter how happy we are with the step we’ve made in the engine, in aerodynamics, and how the car is doing on track, if all of a sudden your rivals are going faster you don’t exactly care because they’re going faster than you.
“The Red Bull looks good, the McLaren I am sure it will be there," he said, referring to his former team. "McLaren is going to step forward for sure. Alpine doesn't look bad either.
"We’ve seen the McLaren has an incredible top speed and we expected that, that the rest would also make a step forward."
He was quick to dismiss suggestions that title favourites Mercedes might be struggling after hitting problems in last week's test. "I don't believe anything about Mercedes or what I see from the other teams. It is still too early."
Even at Ferrari, Sainz isn't in a position to make direct comparisons to last year's ill-fated SF1000.
“I can't compare it to anything because I don't know about last year's car and then I don't really know how much progress it has made," he acknowledged, adding that new team mate Charles Leclerc was happy with how things were going.
"I still can't afford to make comparisons because I don't have that experience [but] Charles doesn't speak ill of the car, it is already something positive.
"For my part, I'm focusing more on myself, trying to learn from the car, from the team, trying to adapt, be comfortable," he added.
“I personally have no insecurity," he added. "What I do have is perhaps a lack of experience and that lack of the last bit of confidence to know that in races 1, 2 and 3 I am going to get 100 per cent of the car's potential.
"After being in four different teams in six years, I have realized that F1 is called F1 but each car could be called a different way," he explained.
"Each car is different, each car has its driving techniques, its braking style, its 'feeling' with the steering wheel, with accelerator, transmission, gearbox, buttons, how the car reacts to each driver input is totally different.
"You have to reset all your references, all the things that you are used to doing," he continued. "Reset everything, forget everything you know and start over from scratch.
"It will seem aggressive to you, but I have changed teams every two years so I'm more used to going through that difficult transition."
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