Carlos Sainz sees himself as a Ferrari driver for the "medium and long term" as team boss Mattia Binotto plans contract talks.
The Spaniard had an impressive first season in red in 2021, bucking the trend of drivers that struggled early on in the year due to limited testing, claiming four podiums and out-scoring his illustrious teammate Charles Leclerc.
“I had quite high expectations because I like to set the bar as high as possible to try my best to meet it,” he said via Spanish newspaper AS, reflecting on the season.
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“With a high target, you push yourself more during the season. I can’t say if I’ve met them all or not, but I knew it would be a season of adaptation, hard, especially at the beginning, and the most important thing was to finish the year stronger than I started it, with a good progression. And I have more than achieved that.”
Sainz has a history of short stays at the team's he has raced with, with the 56 races he did for Toro Rosso between 2015 and 2017 his longest stint.
But now firmly established at the Scuderia, he has no plans to look elsewhere.
“Considering that I have another year left on my contract, I’m not in a hurry,” he said on extending his current deal. “But it’s true that right now I don’t see myself anywhere else but Ferrari in the medium or long term.
“I am happy here, I enjoy it a lot and I go home after every race with a smile on my face and a sense of pride for being a Ferrari driver.
“And if you add good results to that, I don’t think I’ll be better off than at Ferrari anywhere. I am happy to be here.”
That feeling was pretty mutual too, with the Ferrari boss expecting upcoming talks to follow Sainz's 'smooth operator' nickname.
“Carlos had a great year,” Binotto said at the end of last season.
“When we signed him a year ago, we said that the winter would be the time to talk and review everything that happened during the season.
“So we will do that in the winter. There will be a joint review of the entire season and we will talk about what our future will look like.
“It will be, I think, an easy discussion, no doubt,” Binotto added.
“I don’t know what he’s got in mind, first I would like to understand how he’s pleased, have a review of him with the season and look together to the future.
“So no doubt that we’ll sit down and try to find an agreement. That will be part of the winter period.”
