McLaren's Sainz takes on host of F1 engine element changes

McLaren has made a number of changes to the Renault engine elements on Carlos Sainz Jr's 2019 Formula 1 car for this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix. 

The Spaniard, who suffered a fiery exit at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, has moved onto his second MGU-K unit following the failure that led to his Melbourne retirement.

In an FIA statement issued during the the opening practice session in Sakhir, it has been confirmed that McLaren has also changed the internal combustion engine, as well as the turbocharger and MGU-H on Sainz's car, moving him onto his second of each element just two races into 2019. 

Drivers can use two MGU-K units and three of all the other components before incurring penalties. 

"It is true we have had a couple of failures during testing so it is a weak point of the car," Sainz admitted on Thursday ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

"We need to keep working on it to make sure we don’t throw any more points in the bin because we threw a couple of them away in Australia."