It’s only February, and the season has yet to begin, but Carlos Sainz Jr. says he and McLaren have already begun tentative discussions over continuing their partnership.
Sainz Jr. joined McLaren for 2019 on a two-year deal after previous stints at Toro Rosso and Renault, and regularly spoke of his greater confidence in being able to plan on a longer term basis.
Sainz Jr. finished a career-best sixth in the standings, and claimed his first podium in Brazil, as McLaren comfortably secured fourth in the Constructors’ battle.
“Obviously it’s not a secret that I’m very happy here at McLaren,” he said.
“And there’s obviously been some things going on in the background, we started to talk already, but we’re going to take it easy as we’re in February, so there’s no rush at all.
“But I’m not going to hide that I’m very happy here, I have a lot of faith in this project and the way it’s panning out at the minute.”
Team Principal Andreas Seidl adopted a similar stance to the Spaniard.
“First of all we would always like clarity as soon as possible, especially on this topic, but there’s no rush to make any decisions or announcements,” he said.
“We’re just going into 2020, we are very happy with Carlos and Lando, with what they’ve done last year.
“It’s important for us as a team to make the next step, I’m sure they can also make the next step from the learnings last year, so I don’t think there’s any need to change anything moving ahead.”
