Sainz happy with James Key re-signing

Carlos Sainz Jr has said that the re-signing of James Key at Toro Rosso is good news for the Italian team. It was confirmed that Key extended his contract with the team earlier this week after joining in 2012 following a two year stint at Sauber.

"I have always said that James is very important for Toro Rosso," said Sainz, who looks set to remain at Toro Rosso for 2018. "I don't know for how long he has extended the contract, but I am sure that if every F1 team had the same budget, Toro Rosso would be much higher and in many respects that is due to James."

During the summer break, Toro Rosso was linked to a change in engine supplier, with rumours suggesting that it could use Honda power in the future. These talks however, have broken down, and Sainz commented on the situation: "To be honest I have nothing to do with that and I have been told nothing by Helmut Marko or anyone else, so I think it's nothing more than rumours," he said.

Another rumour in the Toro Rosso camp is that it could have a changed driver line up for 2018, with Red Bull's Pierre Gasly eagerly waiting to break into F1 after winning the GP2 Series last year and putting in strong performances in Super Formula in 2017. 

"Of course I have sympathy for him and I wouldn't mind if he became my teammate," said Sainz."But this is also Helmut Marko's responsibility, not mine, so I have no idea if he will go for stability or get a new talented driver. Unfortunately for F1 it's not enough to show excellent results -- a number of circumstances have to come together as well so you need to have patience," added the Spaniard.

Chris Soulsby