#BREAKING! Scuderia Ferrari sign Carlos Sainz on a 2-year deal starting from 2021
Ever since news dropped of Sebastian Vettel ending his 5 year stint with Ferrari at the end of 2020, speculations of Sainz joining team red were on an all time high. And well, it seems like they were not wrong. Scuderia Ferrari have confirmed that they have signed Carlos Sainz for a 2 year contract as their driver alongside Charles Leclerc.
The 25 year old driver will join the Italian squad after two seasons at McLaren, creating the youngest driver pairing in Ferrari’s recent history in the process. This news follows the confirmation earlier on Thursday that Daniel Ricciardo will leave Renault to replace Sainz at McLaren for 2021. And well, A LOT of the driver market rumors have come to rest with this shuffle.
Here is what Sainz had to say about his new deal, “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.”
An interesting fact here is that 2021 will mark the first time since 2007 that Ferrari have not had a current or previous world champion amongst their ranks – unless of course Leclerc wins the 2020 title. This is a very brave move from Ferrari considering the company’s usual stand is to play it safe. Team principal Mattia Binotto was quick to underline Sainz’ experience though.
“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 fifty years of the Scuderia, will be the best possible combination to help us reach the goals we have set ourselves.”
It is not news that Carlos will obviously be playing the number 2 driver at Ferrari since Leclerc is their number 1. It is quite reasonable as well considering Leclerc’s skills, fan following and performance alongside Sebastian Vettel in 2019. Although, I still believe that Leclerc has to show more consistency on the field and understand that aggression will not be helpful in winning world titles.
Moreover, I am not even sad about Carlos being the number 2 driver owing to his competitive and light headed nature. He has also been great in 2019 with a career best sixth position in the championship table. That was in a midfield car. Ferrari were carefully observing Sainz’ moves even when he was at McLaren. The guy shifted his home to the UK and made frequent factory visits to analyse the car. He kept working on himself as well both physically and mentally.
Even when you look at Scuderia Ferrari, the team is no more as political as it was before. As soon as Leclerc’s performance surpassed Vettel’s, they quickly switched their stance and Vettel was no more the #1 driver. It just goes to show that Leclerc cannot take his position for granted. Even if Leclerc has the edge because of that very good first season and the season upcoming in 2020, Sainz is a very focussed driver with a clear target to get on the top of the leaderboard.
Charles Leclerc will have to keep his performance consistently at par with what is expected out of him as the number one driver since, Sainz is known for his consistency. This is a great dynamic at Ferrari which is certain to bring a lot of difference at their winnings. All Ferrari have to do now is give them a reliable car and maintaining the peacefully competitive environment in order to get back the world title after a decade.
