Carlos Sainz: “kept doing what I was doing” after poor start to build success

Sainz ran into reliability issues in Australia which ended up in a DNF for the first race of the season, before collision in Bahrain and China left him running outside the top 10.

But since scoring his first points finish for McLaren in Baku the top 10 finishes have been a constant for the Spaniard, other than Canada, signing off before the summer break with consecutive P5’s in Germany and Hungary.
 
Sainz said (quoted by GPToday.net): "Given how bad the first two races start and how unlucky I was during the first two or three races, to be where I am at the moment is really positive.
 
"The key there was don't overreact to the first races, just kept doing what I was doing.
 
“Then the luck turned around the results start coming. Since Baku, it's been a very strong season.”
 
The Spaniard admitted that it didn’t take long for him to adapt to the McLaren car compared to when he switched to Renault a few races before the end of the 2017 season from Toro Rosso.
 
"It took me less time to adapt to the McLaren than it did to adapt to the Renault,” he added.
 
"We are still learning the car, and I am still learning. You saw in Silverstone in the car you can surprise now and then.
 
"From Australia, FP1, FP2, FP3 I was fast. In Bahrain, I was fast in qualifying, I was fighting Max for a top-five place. I was there throughout those races but somehow the results never clicked.
 
"But as soon as the result arrived in Baku, suddenly everything started coming together."