Red Bull boss Christian Horner has praised the performances of Carlos Sainz in 2019.
The Spaniard joined Formula 1 as a junior driver for the Austrian energy drinks giant in 2015 and remained a Toro Rosso until October 2017, when he switched to Renault albeit still part of the Red Bull stable.
Eventually, the two parties would go their separate ways with Sainz moving to McLaren for this year, and in Brazil, he claimed his first podium finish, catching the eye of one of his former bosses.
“Well, I think it’s been good to see Carlos get into a good car this year and he has done a very good job,” Horner said.
“He has driven well. He has very much been the best of the rest after the group of the top three teams and he’s driven some very strong races this year.
“We elected to go our different ways but we are still proud that we gave him the opportunity to come into Formula 1 and that he’s managed to use that opportunity to carve himself out a career, albeit now with another team.”
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Such has been Sainz’s remarkable performance in 2019, this weekend in Abu Dhabi, he can secure sixth place in the Drivers’ standings ahead of two drivers who have been at Red Bull at different times this season.
Interestingly, it isn’t the on-track results that have impressed McLaren boss Andreas Seidl the most, however.
“When I think of Carlos, it’s impressive when he talks in meetings, he does it like he’s an engineer, it’s what it’s like,” he told Spain’s AS outlet.
“He is very precise, and that’s good.
“Carlos has seen different teams and cars and that means he’s very experienced working with different organisations and engineers.
“For me, it’s very, very important how a driver works with the engineers and that he’s clear with his comments and needs.”
Something Sainz says is important to his performance is the security of knowing he’d be at McLaren in 2020 and now it appears the second-generation driver doesn’t have any interest in leaving after next year.
“For as long as I’ve been in this team, it’s been a constant upward curve,” he commented.
“That is obviously a very attractive thing to have and not something that you see a lot in Formula 1.
“I am very happy and very proud of what this team is doing. It’s obviously very, very early to think about 2021 but it’s not a secret that I’m very happy in this team.
“I think both parties are very happy with each other and at the moment for me, there’s nowhere else to look around.”