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Sainz takes confidence from Renault’s turnaround

Carlos Sainz says despite Toro Rosso's 2016 appearing to trail off he has added confidence and assurance it can bounce back next season when it reverts back to Renault power units having seen the 'amazing achievement'.

Sainz highlighted the fact that 12 months ago it looked like none of the teams on the F1 grid would be powered by Renault engines in 2017 as both Red Bull and Toro Rosso looked to split after a frustrating year of underperformance and unreliability with the French manufacturer.

Despite Toro Rosso reverting to year-old Ferrari engines this season and Red Bull rebranding the Renault power units under the TAG-Heuer guise, Sainz says Renault looks to have enjoyed the biggest gains of any manufacturer this year and is relishing the prospect of his team returning to using the engines for 2017.

"I think the biggest improvement on the engine side has been done by Renault this year, especially since they developed a lot of the aerodynamics and the chassis," Sainz said. "You see where they were in the first race to where they are now with the power unit it's an amazing achievement in one year.

"At this stage last year no one would have thought it would be possible so it's an interesting lesson learned from my personal side in Formula 1, that development is everything in Formula 1, it keeps evolving and you can perfectly see it this year."

Although speculation has calmed somewhat Sainz had been linked to switching to the Renault team as part of the power unit deal with Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

Earlier this year Sainz signed a new deal to remain in the Red Bull fold at least until the end of the 2018 season. 

Zdroj: crash.net