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Carlos Sainz Jr. while still with Toro Rosso

Sainz Jr. Benefiting from Hulkenberg experience
Vandoorne: 'Plenty of positives' from 2017
Key 2017 F1 Statistics
Video: Motorsport Rewind – Best of 2017

Sainz Jr. Benefiting from Hulkenberg experience
Carlos Sainz Jr. says he is profiting from Nico Hulkenberg's greater Formula 1 experience, having previously been paired with fellow youngsters at Toro Rosso.

Sainz Jr. debuted alongside Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso in 2015, before linking up with Daniil Kvyat, who joined the grid a year beforehand, and then spent two races next to newcomer Pierre Gasly.

Ahead of his full-time move to Renault for 2018, on loan from Red Bull, Sainz Jr. switched to the manufacturer for the final four Grands Prix of 2017, in place of Jolyon Palmer.

Sainz Jr. linked up with Hulkenberg, who has started 135 Grands Prix for Williams, Force India, Sauber and Renault, having also claimed victory at Le Mans with Porsche.

The Spaniard says that his team-mate's greater experience has already led to personal gains, and believes their partnership will push Renault forward in 2018.

"It's interesting, especially already I've felt differences," said Sainz Jr. on his relationship with Hulkenberg.

"Everything is going to help for sure, to be up against a guy that has been seven or eight years in Formula 1, and has really settled nicely into a team like Nico has over the last year.

"There's only things to learn and look out for.

"I'm sure we can push each other hard and that's only going to bring the team forward.

"I think also Nico welcomes the challenge of having me next to him and it's just going to push the team forward.

"Already in feedback we have a lot of similarities and that's going to help everyone."

Sainz Jr. scored points on his Renault debut at the US Grand Prix, contributing to Renault beating his former team, Toro Rosso, to sixth place in the Constructors' Championship.

Vandoorne: 'Plenty of positives' from 2017

Stoffel Vandoorne had things to smile about

Stoffel Vandoorne insists there were "plenty of positives" to take from his rookie Formula 1 campaign, despite McLaren-Honda's setbacks in 2017.

Vandoorne, having made a one-off appearance in Bahrain last year, in which he scored a point, stepped up to a full-time race seat in place of Jenson Button in 2017.

However, Vandoorne struggled early on amid McLaren-Honda's reliability and performance problems, and frequently lagged behind team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Vandoorne, though, eventually broke into the points in Hungary and followed it up with back-to-back seventh places in Singapore and Malaysia, to finish the year four points behind Alonso.

"It's been a season with ups and downs," said Vandoorne, who finished 16th in the championship.

"It's probably not a season we would have liked to have, but there's plenty of positives to take from this season as well.

"The way we've developed the car, the way it is going for next year as well, everything is going in the right direction.

"All the effort we put in in the final races was the same [as] at the start of the year."

Vandoorne added that he has been able to soak up knowledge from Alonso, describing the Spaniard as the "best reference" as a team-mate.

"It has been a good season working with Fernando, he's probably the best reference I can have on the grid," explained Vandoorne.

"I think it was very good to be alongside him, to learn, the way he's building a weekend, the way he's working with the team setting up the car, preparing for a race.

"I gained a lot of experience and I'm looking forward to carrying that forward next year."

Key 2017 F1 Statistics

Statistics don't lie – Hamilton and Mercedes were again the best in 2017. With Aldo Costa designing their car, they will remain the best in 2018, 2019, 2020…..until Costa decides to retire.

Wins, pole positions, fastest laps, podiums, laps led, laps completed – GPUpdate.net provides a round-up of who claimed which statistical accolades in Formula 1 in 2017.

Wins:
Lewis Hamilton: 9
Sebastian Vettel: 5
Valtteri Bottas: 3
Max Verstappen: 2
Daniel Ricciardo: 1

Pole positions:
Lewis Hamilton: 11
Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas: 4
Kimi Raikkonen: 1

Fastest Laps:
Lewis Hamilton: 7
Sebastian Vettel: 5
Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas: 2
Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen: 1

Podium places:
Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas: 13
Daniel Ricciardo: 9
Kimi Raikkonen: 7
Max Verstappen: 4
Lance Stroll: 1

Front row starts:
Sebastian Vettel: 14
Lewis Hamilton: 13
Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas: 5
Max Verstappen: 2
Lance Stroll: 1

Points finishes:
Lewis Hamilton: 20
Valtteri Bottas: 19
Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon: 18
Sergio Perez: 17
Kimi Raikkonen: 16
Daniel Ricciardo: 14
Max Verstappen, Felipe Massa: 13
Carlos Sainz Jr.: 10
Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean: 8
Lance Stroll: 7
Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso: 5
Stoffel Vandoorne, Daniil Kvyat: 3
Pascal Wehrlein: 2
Jolyon Palmer: 1

Laps led (out of 1196):
Lewis Hamilton: 527
Sebastian Vettel: 286
Valtteri Bottas: 187
Max Verstappen: 133
Kimi Raikkonen: 40
Daniel Ricciardo: 23

Raced laps (out of 1196):
By driver
Lewis Hamilton: 1195
Sergio Perez: 1174
Valtteri Bottas: 1168
Esteban Ocon: 1117
Sebastian Vettel: 1089
Lance Stroll: 1050
Romain Grosjean: 1037
Marcus Ericsson: 1034
Felipe Massa: 1019
Kimi Raikkonen: 1011
Kevin Magnussen: 1003
Nico Hulkenberg: 973
Stoffel Vandoorne: 951
Pascal Wehrlein: 948
Daniel Ricciardo: 904
Carlos Sainz Jr.: 881
Fernando Alonso: 830
Max Verstappen: 819
Daniil Kvyat: 728
Jolyon Palmer: 721
Pierre Gasly: 301
Brendon Hartley: 179
Paul di Resta: 60
Antonio Giovinazzi: 58
Jenson Button: 57

By team: (out of 2392)
Mercedes: 2363
Force India: 2291
Williams: 2129
Ferrari: 2100
Haas, Sauber: 2040
Renault: 1910
Toro Rosso: 1873
McLaren: 1838
Red Bull: 1723

Q3 appearances:
Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen: 20
Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen: 19
Lewis Hamilton: 18
Sergio Perez: 15
Esteban Ocon: 13
Nico Hulkenberg: 12
Felipe Massa: 11
Carlos Sainz Jr.: 8
Fernando Alonso: 7
Stoffel Vandoorne: 6
Romain Grosjean: 5
Lance Stroll: 3
Daniil Kvyat, Jolyon Palmer: 2
Jenson Button: 1

Q1 exits:
Marcus Ericsson: 18
Pascal Wehrlein: 15
Lance Stroll: 12
Kevin Magnussen: 9
Romain Grosjean, Jolyon Palmer: 8
Stoffel Vandoorne: 7
Pierre Gasly: 4
Felipe Massa: 3
Esteban Ocon, Brendon Hartley, Daniil Kvyat: 2
Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz Jr., Antonio Giovinazzi, Paul di Resta: 1

Motorsport Rewind – Best of 2017
Red Bull gathered all the best moments of motorsports they had this year in one compilation. From Formula 1 to Rally Dakar and even The Race Of Gentlemen which one was your favorite 2017 motorsports moment?