Carlos Sainz tips one rival F1 team to shine in Saudi Arabia

Carlos Sainz is wary of the threat McLaren could pose at this weekend’s F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Sainz started off his final year with Ferrari in strong fashion with third-place at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Ferrari left Bahrain as the second-fastest team, but with Jeddah a completely different circuit layout, the pecking order behind them could change.

McLaren often thrived at high-speed circuits in 2023 - Silverstone, Japan and Qatar - and Sainz expects his former team to be more competitive this weekend as a result.

“Let’s see the differences first,” Sainz said when asked about Saudi Arabia. “We go with this new 2024 car so it will be a bit of a surprise for everyone to see where we are.

“I expect the cars like the McLaren, last year they were very good in high speed circuits, to be competitive there but you know our car has also improved in the high speed so hopefully we can be also stronger.”

Lando Norris finished seventh in Bahrain meaning McLaren were the fourth-fastest team.

It’s a major improvement compared to 12 months ago, when they left the first race as the slowest team.

Assessing McLaren’s chances in Jeddah, Norris said:  “It’s a bit more high speed, a bit more medium speed, which normally suits us,” he said. “There’s still things we’re going to struggle with a lot.

“It’s also a track which maybe should suit us a bit more. So excited for it.

“Plenty of things for us to learn, because it’s so different this car than what we had last year. More challenges, more question marks but on the whole, I’m hoping it suits a little bit more.”