Carlos Sainz is being put upon as the favourite to join Scuderia Ferrari in place of Sebastian Vettel from 2021 F1 season onward alongside Charles Leclerc.
In hindsight, Vettel leaving Ferrari isn’t very surprising, considering the growth of Leclerc in the last two F1 seasons, especially against the German in 2019. Much like Max Verstappen, the talent shone through despite some silly mistakes from the less-experienced racer.
There were hints of politics and ruthlessness as well, which is required to be a world champion in F1 and him being a Ferrari product, it made Leclerc more favourable for the Italian manufacturer. His long-term contract made it all the more clear as well.
Ever since the news broke where Ferrari confirmed about Vettel leaving, a list of names has already being surfaced for his replacement but one in particular seems to be high and gaining momentum as hours go by with media from Spain, Germany and Italy behind it.
In fact, sources to FormulaRapida.net, indicate the same – albeit still keeping it in the 50-50 chance category as Sainz has come out to be the front-runner. The Spaniard was retained fairly early by McLaren for 2020 alongside Lando Norris.
The duo have excelled together but it was unclear if Sainz had a long-term contract with McLaren. If we go by reports, it looks like, he didn’t and talk is that he and Ferrari have more or less agreed to unite together from 2021 onward alongside Leclerc.
As much as that Ferrari is ready to announce Sainz this week itself. Should the Spaniard jump ship, it will be his third change of teams in four years as he moved from Toro Rosso to Renault – moving on from Red Bull programme – to McLaren.
The experience is certainly there with Sainz to compliment a talented youngster like Leclerc. Apart from some trouble against Verstappen in both their early days, the Spaniard has had no issues with his teammates, with the one with Norris hailed as one of the best.
Sainz is also favoured by Fernando Alonso, who himself hopes for a F1 comeback. It seems less likely that the two-time champion will get the nod like Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who will be out of contract too. Whether his age is a factor, we can only guess.
Among others, even though Lewis Hamilton has been linked hugely, it is unlikely that he will move, while Valtteri Bottas doesn’t seem to be favoured much despite his credentials and knowledge of Mercedes, whereas Antonio Giovinazzi is not talked about as well.
Going back to Sainz, both Zak Brown and James Key had heaps of praises for the Spaniard whether for his driving or his overall character, where he was a de facto leader of McLaren in 2019. Key stressed on the changes he saw from Toro Rosso to McLaren.
His move will leave the Woking-based F1 team without a driver with Vettel being a straight-forward link. However, it cannot be ascertained if that will be the case as Ricciardo seems like to be in the frame, which will open a seat at Renault then.
The French manufacturer will have host of drivers to look into including champions like Vettel, Alonso and even their academy drivers like Guanyu Zhou and Christian Lundgaard. The German’s one move surely has opened up a lot of possibilities.
Here’s Cyril Abiteboul on wanting to retain Daniel Ricciardo
Here’s news on Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari
Here’s last from Zak Brown taking on Ferrari
Here’s James Key on Carlos Sainz growth
Here’s Zak Brown on McLaren benefiting from new pairing
Additional information from Sergio Rodriguez
