Carlos Sainz insists moving up to a Red Bull senior drive is his “one and only target” in Formula 1, despite admitting he will look elsewhere if the energy drinks company doesn’t offer him a 2018 seat.
The Spaniard, who is in his third season with junior outfit Toro Rosso, spoke out during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend that staying with the team for a fourth year would be unlikely.
However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner quickly responded to Sainz’s claim, stressing that an option to keep hold of him for another campaign had been agreed.
Sainz is relieved to have resolved the public spat behind closed doors, and made it clear he is more than committed to the Austrian outfit.
Asked if it was calculated risk to share his own thoughts on his Toro Rosso situation, Sainz told the Official F1 website: “Was it calculated risk from my side? I have my opinion and I said it in that very moment. Maybe I could have used a different wording to put it.
“It is not something that I enjoyed, seeing Helmut Marko and Christian Horner going against me, but it sometimes happens in a Formula 1 career. But it should be over, so turn the page.
“From my side there is nothing else than sheer ambition. And sometimes in the heat of ambition you say things. But that is me! I do have targets and objectives.”
With Daniel Ricciardo’s and Max Verstappen’s future’s seemingly finalised for at least 2018, Sainz’s goal to drive for Red Bull may have to wait a little longer, but the 22-year-old says he will continue to push hard to make it a reality.
“It is my one and only target to be a Red Bull driver in the future. That is what I want, and that is what I have said a hundred times before,” he added.
“And if one answer said in the heat of the moment is spinning out of control, that is just ‘modern times’.”
