Less than an hour after confirming that Daniel Ricciardo is taking over Carlos Sainz’s place in McLaren’s Formula 1 team, Ferrari confirms that Sainz will be replacing Sebastian Vettel, who is leaving after this year.
It was already in the air that Carlos Sainz would be the successor of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel with Ferrari’s Formula 1 team and now the high word is out. The 25-year-old Spaniard will compete with Charles Leclerc for the famous racing stable from 2021. He signed a two-year contract. Leclerc has previously joined the team for a longer period of time and will remain until 2024.
It is already the fourth team for Carlos Sainz for which he will play. The Madrileen started at Toro Rosso alongside Max Verstappen and was subsequently ‘hired’ by Renault in 2017 for the last part of the season. In 2018, he drove a full season for the French team and last year transferred to the McLaren team. With that he achieved his first podium place in Formula 1 in Brazil. The switch to Ferrari probably means that we will see him on stage much more often. At the time of writing, it is still unknown where Sebastian Vettel is going and whether he will remain in Formula 1 at all.