MAY 5, 2017

Top teams light years ahead says Sainz

Carlos Sainz has lamented the fact that F1's top teams are "light years" ahead of the opposition.

Carlos Sainz has lamented the fact that F1's top teams are light years ahead of the opposition.

From a personal point of view, the young Spaniard said he is happy with the "best start" he has had to his three years in formula one so far in 2017.

"My three years of experience are helping," he told the Spanish press, "but still it wasn't easy because half of the grid is very close together."

But Sainz admitted to some "frustration" that the leading teams Ferrari and Mercedes are "light years" ahead of the rest.

"If there is something missing in formula one, it is that this gap is so great between the first two and the others," the Toro Rosso driver said in Barcelona.

"If you look at the budgets, you know that it is impossible to reach them. So I hope Liberty finds agreement among everyone so that it (the gap) can be reduced."

But he also gave the thumbs-up to F1's new era of much faster cars.

"If you look at the teammates in F1, the gaps between them are more noticeable, you see more mistakes in qualifying in the race. We are obviously more on the limit, which makes the drivers look better," said Sainz.

(GMM)