Although Carlos Sainz is still contracted to Red Bull, Renault has started talks with the Spanish driver about a long-term stay in the team.
Sainz was ‘loaned’ out to Renault as a compensation for allowing Toro Rosso to end their engine contract ahead of time. The understanding was that Red Bull may recall him for 2019 in case Daniel Ricciardo leaves the team.
But Ricciardo is delaying his decision, leaving Red Bull, Sainz and Renault in a dilemma.
In spite of the uncertainty posed by the Australian’s decision delay, the French company has started a discussion with the Spanish driver about the future, Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul told Motorsport.com.
“We have in my opinion still two great drivers, but obviously we have a particular situation with Carlos, which is a contract where we are exposed for next year, and we knew that since day one,” said Abiteboul.
“That’s why we need to start thinking the way in advance about what could be the situation. And frankly, that is why we have already started a discussion with Carlos about longer term, about what can happen beyond this year, accepting that it’s not completely in his hands nor our hands.
” [It is] not a super comfortable situation to be in, but we need to accept that we are still playing catch up on many areas and one of the areas is also driver market, where we still need to try to be more in control of our future and of our destiny.”
Speaking of his experience in Renault, Sainz said: “I think both [Renault and me] are happy with the situation. I am very happy with Renault, I feel privileged to be part of this brand and it seems that Renault is also interested in being able to continue with me in the future.
“But I think it is still too early to talk about the future. We are in the fourth race and it is not yet time to talk about 2019.”
The French team’s boss admitted their junior drivers are not yet ready for F1 and the outfit is not yet strong enough to be attractive for a driver like Daniel Ricciardo, so they have to try their best to make use of what is in their control.
“Maybe we cannot control everything, but at least we need to have visibility on the future,” he said. “And that is why I am also acting to speed things up with Red Bull on the engine side, and that will be the same also on the drivers’ side.
“We need to be fixed about our plans as soon as possible, bearing in mind that we can’t control everything.”
