Toro Rosso's lack of Bahrain Grand Prix pace 'weird'

The Spanish rookie qualified an impressive 10th, but lacked performance in the race before a loose wheel forced him to retire after his second pit stop.

Sainz complained about a lack of power on the straights, which particularly hurt during the first three laps before DRS was enabled.

"At the beginning of the race, when everybody is not using DRS, we lost a lot of time on the straights," Sainz told AUTOSPORT.

"The lack of power we had at the beginning of the race made it really tricky.

"I was coming onto the main straight with a one-second deficit and they were attacking me in Turn 1."

Toro Rosso enjoyed its best result of the season in Malaysia, with both Sainz and team-mate Max Verstappen scoring points.

As a result, both drivers were optimistic of another strong showing as Malaysia is a similar track to Bahrain, but it did not prove to be the case.

"It's weird, because Malaysia was a rear-limited track and we were really quick and Bahrain is a rear-limited track and we were pretty slow," he said.

His difficulties in the race were compounded when he was given a five-second penalty because his recon laps before heading to the grid were too slow.

"We knew we would be tight on fuel so they told me to go really slow," added Sainz, who scored points in the opening two races.

"It was a bit too slow so I got a penalty. It was a frustrating race. One to forget, definitely."