Carlos Sainz: 'Top teams light years ahead'

Carlos Sainz has lamented the fact that Formula 1's top teams are "light years" ahead of the opposition.

From a personal point of view, the young Spaniard said that he is happy with the "best start" he has had to his three years in Formula 1 so far in 2017.

"My three years of experience are helping," he told the Spanish press, "but still it wasn't easy because half of the grid is very close together."

Yet Sainz admitted to some "frustration" that the leading teams Ferrari and Mercedes are "light years" ahead of the rest.

"If there is something missing in Formula 1, it is that this gap is so great between the first two and the others," the Toro Rosso driver said in Barcelona.

"If you look at the budgets, you know that it is impossible to reach them. So I hope Liberty finds agreement among everyone so that [the gap] can be reduced."

Toro Rosso are currently sixth in the constructors' standings.