Sainz: Red Bull will make the right decision for me

Editor

Carlos Sainz says he has no intention of walking away from the Red Bull family even though the senior team’s line-up is locked down for 2017.

Sainz joined Toro Rosso at the start of the 2015 season, racing alongside Max Verstappen. But when the need came to promote a driver, it was 18-year-old Verstappen who got the call up to senior team Red Bull.

With the Dutchman expected to stay there next season, racing alongside Daniel Ricciardo, Sainz is facing either a third season at Toro Rosso or a move away from the Red Bull family.

The Spaniard, however, says he is not even thinking about the second option.

“The silly season has started very early! We are in the eighth race of the season and you guys are already speaking about this,” he told NBCSN.

“What I can say is that I’m very happy with how things have been going lately for me, very happy to keep growing inside Toro Rosso because we have been improving a lot.

“These things you are talking about are just rumors. My career has been guided by Red Bull and they’ve always taken the right decision for me.

“So hopefully, when the time comes, after hopefully continuing a good run of races, they will take a decision regarding me and it’s the right one.”

And should that decision result in a third season with Toro Rosso, Sainz says he would have no complaints as the team is moving forward and will be racing an up-to-date Renault engine in 2017.

He added: “It’s true that in Red Bull the situation looks quite closed.

“But we must keep thinking that Toro Rosso with a good power unit and one more year of experience and growing could be also in a good position. James Key is a brilliant engineer that is bringing the team up also.

“We will see where we can be next year, obviously I don’t want at the moment to move from the Red Bull programme and from Toro Rosso and obviously Red Bull more in the future as it looks quite closed at the moment.”