After a season that has not turned out as expected, Fred Vasseur has spoken out about Carlos Sainz’s situation at Ferrari and said that, although the Spaniard has a contract with the Maranello outfit until the end of 2024, talks regarding the driver’s future will be finalised before the end of the current year so that both parties have clarity at the start of next season.
Although the gap between the Spaniard and team-mate Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ championship is just seven points, the Monegasque looks set to stay for many years to come, while Sainz’s future remains uncertain, with Vasseur seemingly keen to be a little more cautious with the driver of car number 55 on the grid.
However, the Frenchman said he is 100% behind the 28-year-old and stressed that there is still time: “I think that with Carlos we are fully aligned, we had the same question hundreds of times and we always gave the same reply.
“We have time to discuss, we still have 18 months of contract in front of us. We both want to start the next season with a clear situation, that means we have to take action and a decision before the end of this season, and we still have four or five months in front of us to decide.
“But we are fully, fully aligned on this point with Carlos and his management and we will have the discussion soon.”
Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
The former Alfa Romeo director has also talked about Ferrari’s plans to bring new talent into the team and said that unfortunately some will not join until 2025, which of course will result in the changes not being reflected for another two or three years and therefore he accepted that it is a frustrating situation:
“It’s a very long process and the consequence of that is that we have some people that will be joining us in a couple of months, some other people will be starting at Ferrari on January 1st next year, others on July 1st next year and some will start at the beginning of 2025.
“It’s a very long-term process and it’s a little bit frustrating because you have the feeling that the results of your work will only be there in two or three years from today. But, on the other hand, if you don’t start this process you’ll never get to the end of it, so you have to keep pushing on with it, and I think we’re doing some good steps forward.”
