Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Sainz expects more from Mercedes-powered teams

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Carlos Sainz expects Mercedes-powered teams will show a step forward at the Australian Grand Prix.

Toro Rosso enjoyed a strong pre-season testing programme, completing the most laps of any team except Mercedes, while also posting the fifth fastest lap time overall. However, with the team running the 2015-spec Ferrari power unit, Sainz is cautious over how much more potential is still in the Toro Rosso's engine compared to its rivals.

"The car we’ve manage to improve it a bit from last year and the engine has done the rest," Sainz said. "Hopefully in Melbourne we will see we are as close to Williams in the speed traps and our direct competitors like Force India so we will see.

"We should be in the pack in the midfield, fighting for points and to get into Q3. But we don’t know what they’ve done this test and we don’t know what they’ve tried and what fuel loads they’ve run or how much they’ve turned up the Mercedes engine. We don’t know where they are but hopefully we are in a good position and at least I know I can be strong."

Despite his reservations, Sainz insists Toro Rosso has still exceeded expectations by having such a productive winter.

"I am very, very excited ... I want to congratulate everyone on the great test we’ve done and produced. I cannot wait to go to Melbourne. We have built up a lot of confidence with the Ferrari power unit, with the Ferrari people and the STR mechanics, pit stops and myself. We are all very confident and we like how things are going at the moment."

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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.