Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari's priorities should be on improving its performance, therefore putting contract negotiations with himself and teammate Charles Leclerc on the back-burner, as team boss Fred Vasseur made clear recently.
Ferrari currently sits fourth in F1's Constructors' standings, a position that clearly reflects the team's underperformance this season.
So far, the Italian outfit has only scored two podiums year-to-date, courtesy of Leclerc in Azerbaijan in Austria. But its recent displays suggest that even a top-three finish will be hard to come by on merit without a significant performance improvement by the team.
Earlier this month, Vasseur rubbished rumors that Ferrari was courting Alex Albon as a potential replacement for Sainz for 2025, the Frenchman insisting that driver contracts were not a priority for now.
"I don't know where this story came from," said Vasseur at Silverstone.
"They [Leclerc and Sainz] still have a one-year contract, so I don't think it's an issue that needs to be discussed now. We'll certainly talk about it in the future, but it's not the first concern.
"The priority, for everyone, is to focus on the team, especially this season. I don't want there to be any distracting elements."
Sainz has said that he would like to have clarity on his future before the start of next season. But the Spaniard is on the same page as Vasseur when it comes to Ferrari's absolute priorities.
"I personally agree with Fred," Sainz said. "I think in Ferrari right now there’s much bigger priorities than sorting out the future of its drivers.
"Also, personally, with so many races consecutively, it’s not like you can stop for a minute and really think about your future and what you want to do and what do you see in the next two or three years happening for you.
"I think with so many back-to-backs, so many races, it’s difficult."
©Ferrari
Although contract discussion are unlikely to take place until after the conclusion of Ferrari's 2023 campaign, Sainz says he will take stock of his situation and reflect on his future during F1's upcoming summer break.
"I’m not going to lie, there’s the three-week break in August that I will start maybe thinking a bit about what I would be happy with or, or whatever," he added.
"And then the winter break, that I think is what I said in that interview a while ago, that it will be time to start figuring out where I will be racing in ’25.
"But going back to Fred, I fully agree, because in Ferrari there’s much bigger priorities, much bigger, more important things that we need to sort out in the short term.
"And that is my priority: to be competitive with Ferrari, not only this year, but also next year that I still have a contract in place and get next year’s car right and get it better than where we are now."
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