F1: Ferrari confirms Carlos Sainz Jr. will drive for the team in 2021 and 2022
Scuderia Ferrari has announced Carlos Sainz Jr. as their driver for the 2021 and 2022 seasons of Formula 1. Sainz Jr has been linked to the seat since Ferrari announced that four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel would leave the team at the end of the 2020 season. Sainz will partner Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, giving the Scuderia their youngest driver pairing since Jacky Ickx and Chris Amon in 1968.
McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr., formerly with Toro Rosso and Renault, will switch to Ferrari for the 2021 and 2022 seasons of Formula 1
Sainz Jr., son of WRC and Dakar champion Carlos Sainz, has been in Formula 1 since the 2015 season. In his debut season, the Spaniard partnered Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso. He switched to the Renault team at the 2017 US Grand Prix, replacing Jolyon Palmer, while still contracted to Red Bull. He spent the 2018 season "on loan" from Red Bull to Renault, before switching to McLaren for 2019. His sixth-place finish in the Driver's Championship in 2019, has been his highest ranking in his F1 career thus far.
Speaking of Sainz Jr. being signed on to Ferrari, team principal Mattia Binotto said, "I'm pleased to announce that Carlos will join Scuderia Ferrari as from the 2021 championship. 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."
"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," Binotto continued.
Meanwhile, Sainz Jr. said, "I am very happy that I will be driving for Scuderia Ferrari in 2021 and I'm excited about my future with the team. I still have an important year ahead with McLaren Racing and I'm really looking forward to going racing again with them this season."
McLaren has already announced that Daniel Ricciardo will take Sainz's place at the team in 2021.
