Carlos Sainz was expecting McLaren to enjoy a strong start to 2019 based on their pre-season performance.

Having ended last year battling with Williams at the back of the grid, the British team has enjoyed a bounce with three points results putting them fourth in the Constructors' standings.

While the pace of Sainz and particularly his rookie teammate Lando Norris might have surprised some, the Spaniard admits the signs had been there in testing.

“We know the fuel loads we ran, we know the engine modes we ran, and in testing, I saw we were strong,” he said to Motorsport.com.

“I thought maybe we can have some fun in the first few races, so when I went to Australia, I already knew the car could potentially be in Q3, potentially in the points.

“I set my targets before Australia because I knew more or less where we could be. Because of that, I think points finish we can target in pretty much every race, even in races like China where we didn’t qualify well.

“It doesn’t mean we’re going to get points, it doesn’t mean we’re going to make Q3 every race. But that should be the target of McLaren at the moment.”

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The pace, despite some iffy reliability, has so far vindicated Sainz's move from Renault, but when he first joined the Woking-based outfit, Carlos revealed there was one trend from 2018 that he was keen to understand.

“Sometimes when I was racing for Renault I was a bit puzzled by McLaren being half a second away in qualifying and suddenly in the race being always a pain for us,” he explained.

“Now I understand why last year the car was a bit better in the race than in qualifying.

“I’ve tested it, I know how it feels and I know more or less what’s going on. There’s a few interesting bits there that I’ve learned.”