Carlos Sainz has hinted he would like to drive for one of the three top teams in 2018.
The Spaniard was linked strongly with a move to Renault for this year, but Red Bull elected to hold him to his contract with Toro Rosso.
Now, El Pais newspaper said the 22-year-old has made comments in Bahrain that are designed to "attract the attention of a large team".
Sainz was speaking amid a difficult weekend mired by reliability problems in Bahrain.
"The three top teams are in another league. I don’t even look at them as it would be stupid," he said.
"That you cannot even consider fighting with them is a joke in bad taste. It’s frustrating, although if I was with one of them I would not mind," added Sainz.