Renault has made progress💦 with its Formula 1 engine but re﷽mains “a good step” behind Ferrari, according to McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr.

Ferrari appears to be thꦕe power unit benchmark in 2019 and💎 introduced its first engine upgrade of the year at the Spanish Grand Prix, which the Scuderia said had demonstrated a further increase in performance.

Renault also brought an upgraded power unit to Barcelona in a bid♛ to improve performance and reliability for itself and customer team McLaren.

“I think Renault has definitely done progress in terms of power, you see at every track t🅷his year we arꦗe a lot closer to the top,” Sainz said.

“But there is still o꧂ne engine for me which is excelling which is th🐻e Ferrari engine in qualifying mode, which is still a good step ahead.

“Renault has made progress and on the power side, this engine is supposed to be a progres🍎s in reliability - which is where we are a⛄t the weakest.

“So hopefully we will keep moving forward and they will keep bringing steps but com𓂃pared to last year we definitely have more power.

“𒆙I cannot tell you exactly the gap between t𓆉he engines as that is a quite private thing for the manufacturers but it is not for me to comment. But it is a good step.”