Carlos Sainz says comments relayed by the Spanish media about winning the world title within five years were "a bit misinterpreted".
After a two-years spell with McLaren, Sainz aims to take his F1 ambitions to the next level with Ferrari which the 26-year-old has joined on a two-year contract.
While a world title remains Sainz's ultimate goal, the Spaniard clarified on Friday in Bahrain a comment in a recent video that alluded to his ambitions but which he believed was misunderstood by his home country's press.
"Charles asked me 'where would you wish to be in five years?’" Sainz explained.
"Obviously my honest answer is, what do I wish? I wish I was world champion in five years, which is a very obvious answer for any Formula 1 driver if you ask.
"I think that was misinterpreted to say 'I want to be world champion in five years', which is a common mistake sometimes the media does or what people do when interpreting the messages and changing a bit around my words from that question.
"I wish I could be a world champion in five years of course, but I know it's going to be a very, very tricky task to do. There's a lot of competition in Formula 1 nowadays."
Sainz has joined Ferrari at a difficult time and on the back of one of the worst seasons in the Scuderia's history.
Team boss Mattia Binotto says the House of Maranello has worked hard to improve its performance this season although the Swiss viewed Ferrari's 2021 campaign as a transition year before a fresh and hopefully successful reset in 2022 when F1's ushers in a whole new set of regulations.
However, Sainz feels that he is in "the right place" at Ferrari and has enjoyed a good start with his new team.
"I am looking forward to try and build a bit of stability here in Ferrari," he said.
"The first couple of months have been very good, I've found the stability, I found that team that has welcomed me in a really nice manner and I'm feeling really comfortable.
"Let's see how it goes, but I'm looking forward to it."
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