Carlos Sainz admits he is "a bit more comfortable" at Toro Rosso following the recent change in driver line-up and team members.
Max Verstappen has been promoted to Red Bull, with Helmut Marko citing "considerable unrest" between the former Toro Rosso team-mates as one of the reasons for the driver change. Verstappen's race engineer Xevi Pujolar also left Toro Rosso ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix and Sainz admits he has started to sense a difference in atmosphere as a result of the recent changes within the team.
"It’s a bit too early to say because the changes have been done within a week," Sainz said. "I must say that I’ve always felt comfortable with Toro Rosso but maybe now it’s a bit easier or I’m a bit more comfortable than I was before.
"There’s definitely a good atmosphere in the team I think everyone is working in the same direction and hopefully we can keep going that way."
While new team-mate Daniil Kvyat says he will need an extra day in the car to feel fully comfortable again, Sainz says he does not see the situation as an opportunity to establish himself as the team leader.
"For me in F1, with the level of drivers there are here, there’s not many team leaders out there. I wouldn’t mind being one for sure but I don’t feel like that and I don’t think they need me to be one. I think they have two drivers that are really good and came lead the team together. We can both be good."
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