Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari are on the right path under Fred Vasseur and reiterated his commitment to stay with the team beyond the end of his current contract in 2024, despite rumours the Spaniard could jump ship.
He’s been most heavily linked with Audi – who take over Alfa Romeo Sauber for 2026 under the supervision of Sainz‘s former McLaren boss Andreas Seidl – but he again rubbished these rumours ahead of the 2023 United States Grand Prix.
Sat fifth in the championship but just eight points ahead of Charles Leclerc, Sainz will attempt to put some breathing space between his teammate with a maximum 34 points on off at the sprint weekend in Austin.
“I’m happy with Ferrari,” Sainz told the press. “And it is the team that I see positive steps being taken in the right direction.
“I’ve always said I am happy here, and the winter is a good time to sit down and see if we can come up to an agreement for the future, and if they are happy with me and I am happy with them, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
Sainz happy with 2023 F1 season
The 2023 season has seen Red Bull completely wipe out their opposition, delivering the vastly superior RB19 that the rest of the field has largely failed to catch up to.
However, Sainz is the only non-Red Bull driver to win a grand prix in 2023 having claimed victory in Singapore, and he insisted there’s plenty of positives to take from the season.
Despite initially being jumped by Aston Martin, and with McLaren joining the podium fight from halfway through the season, Ferrari are just 28 points behind Mercedes for second-place in the constructors’ championship.
“It’s been a decent season overall,” Sainz reflected. “I was feeling good with the car straight away at the beginning of the season where we were trying to understand where we were and why we were.”
