Carlos Sainz has admitted he wanted to move to Renault for “a long time” before he eventually secured a loan with the team in 2018 as part of the McLaren, Renault, Toro Rosso, Honda deal.
The Spaniard, who scored his best F1 finish this past Sunday in Singapore, came out over his desire to leave the junior Red Bull team in Austria earlier this year, however, his comments only drew condemnation from Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, who insisted he was staying put and honouring his contract.
Though that seemed the settle the matter, comments from Marko a few weeks ago suggested Sainz could leave and so it has turned out with the 22-year-old replacing Jolyon Palmer albeit remaining in the Red Bull stable.
“I’m very enthusiastic. For me it’s a great step in my career,” Sainz said of his opportunity. “I want to thank Renault for trusting in me, this comes from a really long way back in 2016 when they first spotted me and they wanted me to go to the team.
“To finally make it happen and to have everyone happy – Red Bull, Renault, Toro Rosso – with the deal is a great achievement for me.”
Under this new arrangement, a number of different ambitions were filled. The Austrian energy drinks giant retained the option to promote Sainz to their senior team should either Max Verstappen or Daniel Ricciardo leave after next season and Renault now has a line-up for next season full of potential.
Indeed, the son of former WRC champion Carlos Sainz Sr. believes there is nothing negative about the final outcome.
“I knew I had the probability, but a big probability just in the last month when everything started to happen as you might know,” he said of how his 2018 situation played out.
“It has been on my radar for a long time but finally this last month everything has developed, everyone has agreed to what, I think, is a positive deal for everyone involved. I think it’s something everyone needs to be very happy about.”
