Sainz 'wants to know next destination' before season starts

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Carlos Sainz says he's keen to sort out his future in motorsport before the start of the new season in Bahrain at the end of February.

His current contract with Ferrari expires at the end of 2024, as does that of his team mate Charles Leclerc. Recent rumours have suggested that Leclerc's renewal is already in the bag but that Sainz has still been left hanging.

Sainz himself has confirmed that he wants to stay at Maranello for some time to come and is hoping to take care of the details of a new contract within the next couple of months.

"My goal is to start 2024 knowing where I'm going to race in 2025," Sainz told the audience at a Ferrari sponsor event in Madrid. "I wouldn't like to start the season without knowing my next destination.

"My priority is to stay at Ferrari for many more years," he added. "I'm very happy, both parties are very happy and the objective is to continue.

"But we have to agree, and we have these three months until the next race to reach that agreement."

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Sainz provided Ferrari's only win of the most recent season, taking the chequered flag in Singapore ahead of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton to thwart Red Bull's hopes of sweeping the entire 22-race season.

He and Leclerc were just six points apart in the final drivers championship with the Monegasque fifth in the standings and Sainz taking seventh just ahead of George Russell and Oscar Piastri.

Sainz said that he believed his performance throughout the year justified the team keeping him on, and added he felt supported and that his efforts had been appreciated by team principal Frederic Vasseur.

"Obviously I want to renew and I'd like to renew for more than one year, not just two," he said. "You know my intentions.

"Honestly, I feel perfectly valued by Fred and by the whole Ferrari family in general," he continued. "That as a driver that is the main priority.

"If I feel that way and I feel that I am valued, I will renew," he said. "I am convinced that if we both want to, we will reach an agreement on a duration that I am happy with."

Vasseur himself has indicated he's relaxed about the contract situation with both Sainz and Leclerc, adding that the hectic end to the 2023 season had meant talks had been pushed back and started later.

"We had meetings and we started discussions, but we're running late compared to the initial plan," he added. "But it's not an issue."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.