The Spaniard joined Ferrari as a replacement for Sebastian Vettel at the beginning of last year and now heads in the 2022 campaign as the final season of the initial two-year contract he agreed to sign back in early 2020.
Sainz completed a successful first season with Ferrari in 2021 as he finished as best-of-the-rest behind the Red Bull and Mercedes racers in fifth place in the drivers’ standings – beating McLaren’s Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc in a closely-fought scrap as the year concluded – and took four of the team’s five podiums.
Leclerc heads into 2022 with three seasons remaining on the five-year deal he agreed with Ferrari at the end of 2019 – the last season where the team scored an F1 win.
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto said late in 2021 that the team expected to open negotiations with Sainz during the off-season and that he thought at the time that reaching agreement for an extension would be “an easy discussion”.
Sainz was asked to provide an…
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