Sainz: Hamilton gave me good feeling about McLaren

Carlos Sainz Jr. has revealed that Lewis Hamilton "gave him confidence" about moving to McLaren next season.

Sainz announced he was moving to McLaren from Renault earlier this season, as Daniel Ricciardo is coming into replace him at the French team.

After being replaced at Renault, it was swiftly announced he'd be at McLaren next season as he will be replacing fellow countryman Fernando Alonso at the Woking-based side.

McLaren, though, are in the middle of perhaps their worst ever spell in Formula One, continuously slipping down the competitive order.

Mercedes driver and world championship leader Hamilton spent the first six seasons of his F1 career at McLaren - with Lewis winning the 2008 Drivers' crown; with this being McLaren's most recent success.

"I speak with Lewis, actually more than I thought, and more than first expected," Sainz Jr. said on the two speaking. "I have always had a good relationship with him. I sit with him in briefings quite a lot and we chat a bit about many things.

"He asked me about McLaren the other day, so you can see that he is also interested even if he doesn't look like (it) he also knows what is going on in the paddock. We were talking a bit about Woking and how spectacular it is and all that. And he also believes McLaren cannot get any worse than it is now.

"He also agrees that with all the seats taken at the top like Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, that McLaren is probably a very good place to go to. So in that sense, he gave me confidence. He really likes McLaren. He has a lot of respect for the people there, and he gave me a good feeling about it."