Better form following Verstappen exit a "coincidence" - Sainz

Verstappen and Sainz debuted at Toro Rosso in 2015 and looked set to see out a second year as teammates this year, before the Dutchman was promoted to the main Red Bull team in place of Daniil Kvyat.

In the Barcelona race that followed the decision, Sainz would secure his career-best finish of sixth - and the Spaniard would go on to outqualify and outscore his new teammate Kvyat over the rest of the season, accounting in the end for more than 70 percent of the Toro Rosso team's 2016 points haul.

Asked whether his form was impacted by Verstappen's STR exit, Sainz said: "It's a question I've been asked the whole year. I know there's a coincidence that Max left and suddenly I started to show, but I still think nothing would have changed [if he stayed].

"I still think P6 and P7 if Max had finished in front in Spain. I still think I would've fought for a podium in Monaco, and a P8 in Canada.

"I don't think a piece of Kvyat's front wing wouldn't have come into my radiator like it did in Russia, China, a pitstop with [Sebastian] Vettel slowing me down in the pit entry while I was in P6 didn't happen in Spain. Small details stopped happening to me after Spain that had nothing to do with Max."

"Different driver" to Sainz of 2015

Sainz also reckons he was a different driver in 2016 compared to the year before, in which he racked up only 18 points to Verstappen's 49 despite running the Dutchman close in terms of pure pace.

"I'm very happy with how 2016 went and I also feel like a completely different driver to 2015, both in terms of results and feeling," Sainz said.

"The feeling I have in Formula 1 now is very different to what I had in 2015. I'm proud of that because it's what I wanted.

"In 2015 I was probably a very frustrated driver with a lot of reliability problems, not being able to show my full potential, and I knew in 2016 it was time to show it and time to [reveal] it a bit to Formula 1 people because 2015 was full of reliability issues and different kinds of issues.

"All of a sudden, in Spain, it clicked. I stopped having problems, bad pitstops and stuff that was not about me. All of a sudden everything changed. My perception and the perception of the team, everything changed towards a much more positive environment."

Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble