F1: Sainz looks to weak tracks for penalties

Carlos Sainz Jr. is hopeful that any looming Formula 1 grid penalties will coincide with Toro Rosso's least-favored circuits, to limit their impact.

Due to the difficulties Renault has faced this year, teammate Max Verstappen became the first driver to be hit with a grid penalty for taking the fifth replacement of a power unit element ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. Verstappen's car required a fifth internal combustion engine (ICE), resulting in a 10-place grid drop, which was in addition to the five-position penalty handed to the 17-year-old for causing a collision during the previous race in Monaco.

With Sainz currently on his third ICE going into this weekend's race in Austria, the young Spaniard knows he will follow in Verstappen's footsteps at some stage.

"It's better not to think about it," he said, when asked by AUTOSPORT about the possibility of potential grid penalties. "With Max, it was great because Canada was a less favorable track for us, so to take a grid penalty there was a logical thing.

"I just hope when I have to take them at some stage they will be on tracks not beneficial for us. I'm guessing somewhere like Russia would be good to take a penalty, with so many long straights. At power-limited tracks we should take a penalty."

Around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Sainz discovered another weakness of the Renault system regarding fuel consumption.

"I tried to save a lot of fuel at the beginning of the race to have some fun at the end," Sainz assessed. "I penalized myself by doing that, but towards the end I could push a bit. But in saving fuel it meant I was lifting off 150 meters from the braking zones.

"In turn, the brakes cooled down, and because of that the front tires grained because you could not put temperature into them. It was a snowball effect that created a lot more problems."

Although Spielberg is another power circuit, there are differences to Montreal, leaving Sainz to hope for a much better result.

"I finished P12 in Canada, which was not a bad result given the tools we had," he said. "In Austria, it will again be a difficult one. We should come back because we will recover a bit in the corners, the two left handers and the two final turns, what we lose on the straights."