Sainz delivers 'depressing' McLaren F1 verdict

Carlos Sainz has stated McLaren's pace at the Dutch Grand Prix was “depressing” for all teams to witness.

McLaren entered the event with a fresh batch of upgrades as it looked to make further inroads on championship leaders Red Bull in the standings.

Lando Norris took pole position by a convincing margin of a third of a second before winning the race by 22.9s ahead of Max Verstappen.

While McLaren's pace was notably strong, Sainz believes former team-mate Norris deserves praise.

“Yeah but at least it's depressing for all, not just for Ferrari,” he explained to media including RacingNews365. “I guess at least we're not behind the Red Bull....also Red Bull and Mercedes. 

“We managed to pass a Red Bull, we actually caught up with a McLaren during the race.

“Lando must have done a really solid weekend. We have to give praise for that.

“Oscar was P4 so it's not like only McLaren was in a different league, I think Lando must have done a very solid weekend.”

Saniz previews 'different' Monza F1 weekend

The upcoming Italian Grand Prix will be Sainz's final one in Ferrari colours on the Scuderia's home turf ahead of his switch to Williams next year.

Going into the event, Ferrari has slipped back in the pecking order after a strong opening handful of rounds.

Sainz is anticipating a stronger event at Monza for the Italian squad but remained coy over its chances of a race win.

“It's been resurfaced so we will find a very different Monza to the last few years,” he said.

“We need to wait and see, but I hope that Monza is one of those weekends where we can get both cars on the podium or in the top five, and whether we can fight for the win or not, we will see.”