F1 is 'mentally horrible' - Sainz

The Spaniard, part of an all-rookie line-up at STR alongside 17-year-old team-mate Max Verstappen, says that while the sport is not as physically tough as it once was, other demands on the drivers make it extremely challenging.

"It's not so physically demanding as it was 10 years ago, but mentally it's horrible," he said.

"I was actually listening to the radio communication in Barcelona to analyse what we could have done better and it's incredible.

"Mentally it's really, really tough to go through all of those switches while at the same time you're trying to save your tyres.

"At the same time you're trying to handle your battery and your brake balance for every different corner. It's tough, but in a different way.

"I would prefer to simplify a bit of that stuff and just make the cars quicker and make me focus more on making my car quicker."

Sainz believes the mental element now makes up the biggest proportion of the challenge for new F1 drivers.

"You need 20 per cent focus on your driving and 80 per cent focus on the other stuff. Normally it's the other way round.

"You have to dig in and create the space for all of the other things, it's not easy.

"People say it's easy for rookies, and maybe it looks like that, but it's not."