Carlos Sainz says his comments about the unlikely possibility of him remaining for a fourth year at Toro Rosso have been blown out of proportion.
Speaking in Austria about his future, Sainz reiterated his desire to graduate to a top-tier outfit sooner rather than later.
But Christian Horner squashed the Spaniard's ambitions by revealing that Red Bull had exercised its option on his services for next year, and that Sainz will remain at Toro Rosso in 2018.
Sainz however is standing by his comments, and insists his future will now only be discussed internally.
"Everything probably has been thrown a bit out of proportion," he said.
"What I said yesterday is nothing strange, I believe.
"As a driver, as an ambitious driver, as a human, it's clear my first goal in life is to become a Red Bull driver and start fighting for podiums with them again - I owe them everything.
"I owe Toro Rosso and the people there everything I know in Formula 1 at the moment, but I have ambitions.
"My ambition is to be a Red Bull driver one day and hopefully sooner rather than later.
"What I said is a fact, in 12 years of Toro Rosso, no one has been a fourth year. For me to be a fourth year, I'll be the first one in history.
"It would be a strange situation, usually it's a junior team where you want to develop drivers and to put someone up and it would be strange."
Asked about his feelings on Christian Horner's public rap on the knuckles, Sainz acknowledged its purpose.
"I'm not stupid, I see what happens, how everything developed. I was a bit surprised if you can put it that way.
"It's something that sometimes in F1 that happens. I will learn from this and from now onwards, it will stay a bit more internal."
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