Carlos Sainz believes “McLaren now has the best overall package” amid performance and tire management. Carlos Sainz feels the McLaren MCL38 is the most consistent in performance, race pace and tire management.

McLaren is emerging as the new benchmark in Formula 1. It might be too early to declare the MCL38 as the car to beat in all conditions, but their unexpressed strength in Barcelona still intimidated all competitors.

Since the introduction of their evolutionary package at the Miami Grand Prix, the Woking cars have made such a significant leap forward that they have been competitive in all conditions encountered from then to now. At all tracks visited post-Miami, the MCL38s have been contenders for victory and podiums.

Although they did not win at the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, several rivals noticed the real potential of the English cars. Carlos Sainz, a former McLaren driver and in his last year with Scuderia Ferrari, did not hesitate to define the McLarens as the most consistent in performance, race pace, and tire management.

Carlos Sainz remarked that he honestly believes the most consistent car currently in Formula 1 is the McLaren, stating this at the end of his home race, the 2024 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix at Montmelò.

He noted that Red Bull is struggling on some tracks, and Ferrari’s situation is similar. In contrast, McLaren is fast everywhere, excelling in low-speed, and strong in curves 3 and 9, as well as being very fast in curve 5. Carlos Sainz does not see any weaknesses in the McLaren at the moment. While he still considers Red Bull the benchmark, he finds McLaren’s universal speed impressive.

Christian Horner, Red Bull’s team principal, also believes McLaren was the performance reference at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He stated that if Norris had not made a mistake at the start and maintained his position over Max Verstappen, he would have been very difficult to beat.

Horner noted that if Lando Norris had managed to keep his position on track, it would have been hard to defeat him that day. He pointed out that McLaren stayed close throughout the race and put about 15 seconds between themselves and the rest of the field. Therefore, he identified Norris as the most consistent challenger.

Christian Horner concluded that McLaren looks very fast, particularly at the end of each stint. He has observed for a few races now that their tire degradation seems to be well-managed.