Ferrari signs Carlos Sainz to a two-year Formula 1 deal

It didn’t take long for Ferrari to find a replacement for Sebastian Vettel, who recently announced his departure from the Formula 1 team after five years. The carmaker has now revealed Carlos Sainz as Charles Leclerc’s new teammate after the Spaniard signed a two-year deal that will see him drive for the team in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

“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,” said Mattia Binotto, team principal of Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow.

“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,” he added.

With the updated roster, Ferrari’s pairing of Sainz and Leclerc will be the youngest in the past fifty years of the Scuderia. The drivers finished sixth and fourth respectively in the 2019 season, with Sainz securing his first podium finish by securing third place in Brazil to give his previous team, McLaren, its first silverware since 2014.

“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,” said Sainz.

The move to Ferrari will mean Sainz’s career path follows that of his childhood hero Fernando Alonso, with both having started at the same team (Minardi in Alonso’s case, which morphed into the Toro Rosso squad Sainz debuted for in 2014) before advancing to Renault, McLaren and then Ferrari.

The post Ferrari signs Carlos Sainz to a two-year Formula 1 deal appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.

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