Toro Rosso technical director James Key believes Carlos Sainz Jr has benefitted from Max Verstappen’s promotion to sister team Red Bull.

The pair were previously the youngest partnership in F1 history and, with both coming from famous families in motorsport, their results were inevitably compared.

Despite Sainz’s best efforts, Verstappen’s more aggressive style seemed to give him a permanent edge and his results were rewarded when he was moved up to Red Bull earlier this year, with Daniil Kvyat dropping down.

Since then the Dutch youngster has won his first race at the Spanish GP, while Sainz has also improved, recording points finishes in six out of the eight races following his former colleague’s departure.

Key believes the split has helped the Spaniard, as it has allowed him to concentrate on himself, rather than having to constantly compete with his team-mate.

“He has come on really well this year,” said Key to Autosport. “People in the team have huge respect for what he has done, even though it has been slightly under the radar for reasons we know.

“But that reason has moved on now and that allowed him to perhaps be slightly less distracted by beating his team-mate and more on beating the other guys on track as best as he can.

“He has been very focused recently, he’s matured a lot this year and he’s gained a lot of confidence in himself, so his approach to race weekends is more relaxed.”

The Formula 1 season is currently in the midst of its summer break and resumes later this month in Belgium.

Lewis Hamilton currently leads the drivers’ standings and is 1.22 to retain his title ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who is priced at 4.20.