Carlos Sainz has declared “it’s no time to be selfish” as he and Lando Norris work together to help McLaren progress.
Before the British Grand Prix, the Woking-based squad confirmed it would be keeping their current line-up for 2020 as they enjoy a stronger season, sitting fourth in the Constructors’ standings.
And Sainz thinks the building of a strong relationship with Norris in their first season together has played a part in McLaren’s improvement.
“I think for a team like McLaren right now it’s ideal to have two teammates who get on well together, especially as we’re both pushing in the same direction,” he said at Silverstone.
“It’s no time to be selfish. It’s time to all make sure we push in the same direction as there’s no real benefit for making your self quicker for one day.
“It’s for our benefit to push the team forward as like this we make the car as fast as possible as soon as possible to fight for more important things.
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For Sainz, his decision to join McLaren also brought with it a new role as the driver expected to guide development and use his experience to help his rookie teammate.
“I don’t know. I don’t like talking about myself or how good I am at one thing or how bad I am at other things,” he said on how he’d rate his performance in that lead driver position.
“Maybe that question is better that you ask an engineer at McLaren, who can give you better feedback than I can.
“I know I’m putting a lot of effort in helping this team to move forward, I know that I am spending a lot of time in the factory, I know I’m spending a lot of time in different departments, figuring out with the engineers how we can make this team stronger and perform better.
“Living in the UK, spend more time here, be more available to the engineers is definitely helping. How much? Go and ask them for the right answer.”