Carlos Sainz claims he is now feeling "at home" in the Renault team three races after joining the French manufacturer from Toro Rosso, though acknowledges he is still facing a "steep learning curve".

The highly-rated Spaniard made the move to the Enstone outfit at the United States Grand Prix last month and immediately impressed scoring a seventh-place finish on debut, but that remains his only points so far.

Sainz is also in quite a difficult position as Renault battles Toro Rosso, and, as a result, the company he is still associated with, for sixth in the Constructors' Championship with one race to go, however, he is ready to step up and do the job with four points between them and one race left this weekend.

“I left Brazil with a positive mindset as I’m starting to feel at home in the car and we head to Abu Dhabi with confidence and an aim for points,” the 23-year-old began. “It’s going to be a tight fight in the championship for sixth, but we are ready for the challenge.

“There’s been a lot to learn but I think we’ve been able to face the challenge in a positive manner. It’s been an education for me to come to a manufacturer team, and there’s been a lot to do because of joining mid-season.

"I’m still on a steep learning curve with the car so I hope for another step forward in Abu Dhabi,” he added.

These four races have been something of a precursor to Sainz's main challenge which will be to step up and help drive Renault back towards the front in 2018 and potentially prove himself worthy of a seat at Red Bull in 2019, but ending another stellar season on a high is important to the second generation racing driver.

“Of course, I want to qualify and finish in the top 10,” he said. “We’ve definitely had strong positives from every Grand Prix so far, and I want to continue that to finish the year with a smile on my face."

Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey insists the vision of Liberty Media for more competitive racing will not lead to a standardising of the cars that race, following criticism of the manufacturers.

The new leadership has started to put forward ideas for how it sees the sport in the future, with changes to the engine formula from 2021 and an effort to address the financial problems whether it be the inequality between teams and the cost of operating as a whole.

Part of any cost-saving plan, which is currently being discussed, is to look at parts which can be standardised to stop the expense of development and try to avoid significant differences in performance of certain elements team-to-team.

But that hasn't sat well with the likes of Ferrari who have threatened to quit F1, comparing the direction they see Liberty taking to that of NASCAR.

"Actually I don’t think we have a differing view to Ferrari," Carey was quoted by Reuters in response. ”I‘m not trying to be derogatory towards NASCAR, but we don’t plan to be NASCAR either.

“We don’t want to standardise the cars. We don’t want 20 identical cars going around the track and the only difference is the driver, we want all the teams to have the ability to do what they do to create cars that are unique to them -- unique engines to them, unique bodies to them.”

Nevertheless, he insisted F1 can't continue with the current three-team monopoly that it is at the front of the grid and that a more level playing field is needed not just for the current midfield outfits but to attract new teams on the grid.

"We want teams to compete to win, but we want all the teams to have a chance," he said. It’s never going to be equal, there are going to be favourites that evolve, but over time we want the teams to feel they all have a fighting chance.

“Sports are built on the unexpected, so we do want a sport that can have the unexpected ... you need competition, you need the unknown, you need great finishes, you need great stories and great dramas. We’ve got to create that.”

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Another push has been to limit spending through the introduction of a budget cap and though progress on that appears slow, Carey claims a consensus is growing, with the details needing to be thrashed out.

"I think directionally there's broad agreement about the direction we're talking about," he told Autosport. "We obviously have to get into the specifics, and in the details, there will be differing views.

"It's [our job] to find the right compromises so that everybody feels they are much better off, it's a fair proposal, and it makes the sport much healthier.

"That's what we've got to do, to work through to find the right compromises and trade-offs but as a direction, I think we have broad-based support for the direction of all the initiatives we're talking about, and the goals of those initiatives, and the opportunity inherent in those initiatives."

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he warned Sebastian Vettel not to "disrespect" him again after the German intentionally banged wheels with his Mercedes during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix back in June.

The infamous incident took place as the Briton was slowing before a Safety Car restart to allow the Mercedes SLS to recover to the pits before putting his foot down. In the process of doing so, Vettel would run into the back of Hamilton's car through Turn 16 with the four-time world champion feeling he had been brake tested.

In response, he pulled alongside and turned into Lewis' car, an act that would earn him a 10-second penalty for dangerous driving and later issuing an apology after being brought up in front of an FIA Tribunal Court.

At the time, it was the first major controversy between the then championship rivals and the start of what some thought would be the deterioration of their friendly rivalry until that point, but Hamilton didn't want that to happen.

"When I spoke to him later, I was like 'that's a sign of disrespect, so don't ever disrespect me like that again otherwise then we will have problems'," he said in an interview on the Flying Lap.

"I've never done that to someone. I don't even know what he was thinking to have done... I've never been in a position like that. I guess people react differently under certain pressures."

Also aware of the impact increased tensions can have, after his battle with Nico Rosberg in recent years, the 32-year-old, who would go on to claim a fourth world title, didn't want it to become a diversion.

"I think there are different ways in which you can handle things," said Hamilton. "I knew what I was there to do and I wasn't going to let anything distract me from doing that.

"I wasn't going to let myself say something or react in a way that's going to cause some negative swirl which is going to steer me off course from my ultimate goal and naturally, with the experience you learn to just compartmentalise all those different things."

Stoffel Vandoorne believes he was never "traumatised" by the problems which impacted McLaren and Honda even if they were far from helpful in enabling him to settle in his first full Formula 1 season.

The Belgian was tipped to be one of the breakout stars of 2017 after finally getting his opportunity with the British team but he would struggle to meet those expectations as a torrid pre-season and first third of the year due to power unit problems left the 25-year-old unable to find his bearings.

Eventually, he would get going and has actually only retired twice in the last 14 races with two consecutive seventh-place finishes in Singapore and Malaysia the best results Vandoorne has achieved.

“With all the issues we had throughout this season I was never ‘traumatised’, but instead always wanted to fight the odds to get the best possible result and learn with every lap that I did in the car – even if sometimes my mileage was cut short by circumstance,” the former GP2 champion said in reflection.

“In the end I guess that the rookie season thing is a bit overrated. When we come to F1 we all have years of racing under our belt and the ambitions are the same as in all the series below, because if you don’t succeed there you don’t make it to F1.”

Another major hurdle Vandoorne had to deal with was the always daunting thought of partnering Fernando Alonso, with the Spaniard always capable of extracting results his machinery probably isn't capable of and never afraid to speak his mind.

Though more often than not there has been a few tenths gap between the two McLaren drivers, Stoffel actually sees his performance and the experience alongside the double world champion as his main positive from this season.

“I fared very well against Fernando,” he claimed. “Yes, the race results were not as expected, but having a super strong teammate is a well-known value in the paddock.”

Max Verstappen would rather this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix not signify the end of the 2017 Formula 1 season, with the Dutchman "fired up" after a recent string of strong results.

The 20-year-old has five consecutive top-five finishes to his name since claiming his first win of the year in Malaysia and followed that up with a second two races ago in Mexico. Those results marked a major turnaround of his year which had been blighted by seven retirements in the first 14 races.

His Red Bull team has also been on an upward trend, closing the gap to Ferrari and Mercedes at the front, particularly in race trim, and allowing for the three-team duel at the front many had been hoping for.

The last race in Brazil was a slight blip with Verstappen a somewhat distant fifth at Interlagos and with the Renault engine proving unreliable at the end of the year management is now key but Max is hopeful to end the year on a high.

“We will, of course, try and end the season with a strong result in Abu Dhabi,” he said. “Last year was actually quite a good race after skipping a pit stop following a spin at Turn 1, it was hard to manage the tyres to the end of the race but we did it and finished fourth.

“Abu Dhabi is the last race on the calendar but I don't actually want the season to end," Verstappen added. "I'm really fired up at the moment and I just want to keep going."

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo hasn't been quite as lucky with two retirements in the last three races and had to fight from P17 at one stage to finish sixth in Brazil. That is not dampening the hopes of the Australian, however, who revealed his fondness for the year's final destination.

“Yas Marina has actually been one of my favourite tracks over the years but it's been a bit like Suzuka for me though, a track that I've always enjoyed and gone well on but not quite reached the podium at,” he explained. “I broke that trend in Suzuka this year so hopefully I can do the same in Abu Dhabi.”

Seeing the progress Red Bull has made, the race winner earlier in the year in Baku is keen to add a second first place trophy after not enjoying the same benefits as Verstappen and doesn't see why he can't in the Middle East.

“When you have so much time away from the car in the offseason it helps to sign off with a strong result as it makes you feel like you really deserve a break,” Ricciardo claimed. “I think we should have a strong car in Abu Dhabi. I said I want another win before the season is out and I think we have a decent chance of achieving that.”

Formula 1's Managing Director of Motorsport Ross Brawn claims the introduction of cheaper, simpler engines, two of the aims targeted with the 2021 proposals, would be the best way to end the sport's current farcical grid penalty system.

With the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix left this season, an incredible total of 730 places have been given out with more than half given just to McLaren with 380 places such has been the problems for engine supplier Honda.

If one driver, Fernando Alonso or Stoffel Vandoorne had taken that number alone and it was applied literally by the number of grid positions over a season, that driver would only just be taking the start in Australia.

Every manufacturer has been impacted with Renault totalling 310 while Ferrari and Mercedes the remaining 40 and it has led to an outcry of frustration that teams like Red Bull and McLaren have been unable to take the rightful places on the grid at so many races.

But with the sole reason for the system being as an effort to reduce costs, Brawn insists rather than change the penalties, it is the engines themselves which need altering to make the system pointless.

"What I think we should try to achieve with the new engine is componentry that is economic to change whenever you want," said the former Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes man to Autosport.

"If we go towards a different design of turbocharger, a homologated turbo, and it costs $2-3,000, why would you bother to even worry about limiting the number you use? It is not worth it in terms of the scale of the racing.

"But when your turbocharger is as expensive and complicated as it is now, then that's why we have the limitations. The engine is an incredible demonstration of engineering competence, but it is not a great racing engine."

One of the debates surrounding the 2021 proposals, which Brawn recently defended, is that it is taking F1 away from being the pinnacle of technology, something it has always been considered to be, but the Briton pointed to the recent decline in WEC participation, with two of the three manufacturers leaving in consecutive years, as proof of what happens when you get the rules wrong.

"It has been interesting because Porsche have been in the meetings and they have been able to add their opinion because they have seen both sides," he explained, with the German carmaker ending its stint in the hybrid LMP1 category after this weekend's 6 Hours of Bahrain.

"They have been able to add that understanding of what went on and it did become too much of a technical exercise. Sportscar racing has its fan following but even in the environment where the fans were not the biggest thing, it faltered and it failed.

"In this environment, where the fans should be the biggest thing, we can't afford to have that sort of failure where we get so extreme we lose contact with the fans because only a very few people can afford the technology and excel in the technology.

"We are four seasons into this technology and we are still getting so many grid penalties. All credit to Mercedes they have done a fantastic job but no-one else can catch up. That is the reality."

Four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has claimed his rookie season alongside Fernando Alonso at McLaren was the only year in which he learnt anything from his teammate.

The Briton arrived on the scene with the British team in 2007, partnering the Spaniard who also moved to the Woking outfit fresh from winning his two world titles with Renault. The story famously goes that the two would fall out with Alonso unhappy at how equal he and Lewis were and that would allow Kimi Raikkonen to take the title in a three-way duel at Interlagos.

Since then, Hamilton has pretty much been considered the lead driver at the team he has raced for, even after Jenson Button joined McLaren in 2010 after winning his F1 title with Brawn GP the year before and when he joined Mercedes alongside Nico Rosberg in 2013.

Perhaps then, it was that perception that led the 32-year-old to admit: "From all my teammates that I’ve raced with, I don’t generally take much from them," he told CNN's The Circuit.

“I’d say probably the only teammate I’ve ever really learned something from would have been Fernando [Alonso]. It was my first year in F1. After that, I would say I was able to have the experience, so I never felt I was taking anything from another driver.

“I was just always trying to enhance and unlock my own abilities.”

Despite his claim, Hamilton would suggest that losing the title last year to Rosberg did teach him one lesson that he put into practice this year and has seen his relationship with Mercedes blossom once again, beating Sebastian Vettel to a third title in four years as a result.

“I think I came to the team with a good energy but my work ethic is so much better today, so I would have applied that at the beginning," he said.

“I probably would have five championships right now, but I wouldn’t change it for the world, losing the championship last year enabled me to be the driver and the man I am today.”

Lance Stroll is refusing to be put off by the "haters" who continue to question his ability as he offered himself a somewhat generous rating of his first season in Formula 1 with Williams.

The young Canadian was one of the more polarising figures to make it on the grid in 2017 despite making the leap as champion from the European F3 category from last year. Instead, the focus was on the large financial backing his billionaire fashion mogul father Lawrence Stroll was putting in to the Grove team, earning the 19-year-old the label of a 'pay driver' for many.

A slow start to the year didn't help with three consecutive retirements but as the year has progressed, Stroll has begun to show better consistency and showed maturity in Baku by keeping his nose clean in a crazy race and becoming the sport's youngest podium scorer.

“There is always room for improvement,” he admitted to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport when rating his season. “So it’s not 10. I would say a strong 8.5.

“Looking at the season, I have to say there have been very challenging times. Especially at the beginning but we had a really good season, scoring a lot of points. A 9 would be too good though.”

Currently, there is a great deal of speculation over who will be partnering Stroll at Williams in 2018 after Felipe Massa announced his retirement for the second year in a row prior to the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Former Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica is thought to be leading the race for the seat although former McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya this week brandished that idea as a "joke".

1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve also added his view claiming Stroll needed a "slower" teammate in 2018, but his fellow countryman pushed back on such criticism.

“I don’t focus on what is said or written about me,” he claimed. “I do not read the newspapers or listen to the jealousy and the haters. It’s been important to keep a cool head.

“I won everything until Formula 1. I have proven to myself and the world that I can win races and championships, this is just a new job and a new series. I have to adapt and to grow.”

The latest attempt by Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner to block the planned reduction in the number of engines permitted before penalty in 2018 has again been blighted after failing to get unanimous support, according to Autosport.

Horner has been a major critic of the current engines in Formula 1 and the penalties that have come with the limit on parts allowed over the season mostly as his team has had at least one driver have to come from the back of the grid in five races so far this year including the last three.

That occurred with a limit of four engines for this year which next year will become only three with some elements restricted to only two and given the frustration of fans and teams alike, the Briton hoped to use that to get the changes stopped.

It appears, however, that Ferrari has been the spoiler to his most recent bid with the Italian team citing their development of the engine for 2018 designed around meeting the new restrictions, with agreement from the entire grid needed to consider such changes this close to the start of the following year.

Though Red Bull supplier Renault has given guarantees the bad reliability from this year is being addressed, there is concern that with the new limits teams may have to reduce track running in Practice and more races could be impacted with a greater number of drivers having to move down the grid as the season progresses.

F1's Managing Director of Motorsport Ross Brawn claimed the proposed changes to the engines for 2021 would significantly reduce penalties and maybe even the need for a limit in the first place, but, for now, it appears nothing will force bosses to change tack on what is increasingly becoming an endurance-style championship

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that while he may not "dream" of driving for Ferrari like some racing drivers, he wouldn't turn down the Scuderia should an opportunity arose that made sense.

The Australian is arguably the hottest commodity in the driver market currently as his contract with Red Bull expires at the end of 2018, but among the top three teams, he is not the only free agent after next season with Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas also only signed to single year deals at Ferrari and Mercedes respectively.

After four unfulfilling seasons with the Milton Keynes outfit, with only five wins in that time, as well as the growing presence of teammate Max Verstappen leading to questions over Ricciardo's  status at Red Bull, it's unsurprising then the 28-year-old is pondering a move away.

However, when it comes to seriously making that decision, he insists there won't be any kind of emotional tie drawing him to Maranello as he has only one goal in mind.

"If I say it's not, it will seem that I am not interested, but the word dream is a bit heavy,” Ricciardo said when considering the prospect. “My dream is to win the world championship in the best car, so I don't know what else to say."

A move would likely see him team up with former partner Sebastian Vettel but that fact alone may be a key reason why Ferrari may not go for him for 2019.

"I'm not sure he'd take me," Daniel claimed of the German. "I don't know if he has the power to tell the team who he wants, but I'm not going to think about that. All I have to do is keep driving at this high level and that's what will determine my destiny."

While the talk of alternatives is fun, his current employer Red Bull remains eager to see Ricciardo sign the same commitment to 2020 as Verstappen did before the United States Grand Prix.

"That's very nice of them," he told Brazil's Globo in response. "They want to keep myself and Max in the team, but I'm not in a hurry. I have a lot of respect for Red Bull but I still have time to analyse everything."