Ferrari announces Carlos Sainz as Vettel replacement

F1

Carlos Sainz will partner Charles Leclerc at Ferrari from the 2021 F1 season

Carlos Sainz, F1 2020 Australian GP

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Carlos Sainz has been announced as the replacement for Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari.

The Spaniard had been the favourite for the second seat at the team since the news that Vettel would not be re-signing with the Italian team, and joins the Prancing Horse on a two-year contract.

The 25-year-old will make the move from McLaren, which announced today that Daniel Ricciardo would jump ship from Renault to take his vacant seat.

“With five seasons already behind him, Carlos has proved to be very talented and has shown that he has the technical ability and the right attributes to make him an ideal fit with our family,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said.

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“We’ve embarked on a new cycle with the aim of getting back to the top in Formula 1. It will be a long journey, not without its difficulties, especially given the current financial and regulatory situation, which is undergoing a sudden change and will require this challenge to be tackled in a different way to the recent past.

“We believe that a driver pairing with the talent and personality of Charles and Carlos, the youngest in the past 50 years of the Scuderia, will be the best possible combination to help us reach the goals we have set ourselves.”

Ferrari will be Sainz’s fourth team since joining the F1 grid in 2015, with prior stints at Toro Rosso, Renault and most recently, McLaren.

“I am very happy that I will be driving for Scuderia Ferrari in 2021 and I’m excited about my future with the team,” said Sainz.

“I still have an important year ahead with McLaren Racing and I’m really looking forward to going racing again with them this season.”