RICCIARDO ‘PERFECT FIT’ FOR MCLAREN AS SAINZ GOES TO FERRARI
Sebastian Vettel’s decision to part ways with Ferrari last week triggered a bout of grand prix seat shuffling which means Lando Norris is retained at Mclaren alongside Daniel Ricciardo, while Carlos Sainz will leave the British team and head to Ferrari.
Mclaren boss Zak Brown said that the partnership of Norris and Ricciardo at the team, which will switch from Renault to Mercedes power units in 2021, would give it a championship-winning shot straight away.
Speaking to Sky F1, Brown said:
“We went after Daniel a couple of years ago and narrowly missed out. We’ve been a fan of Daniel’s for some time. Obviously he went to Renault [for 2019], and then we brought in Carlos and Lando, who have done a fantastic job.
“We’re going to miss Carlos, he’s done a fantastic job, but now we’ve got a seven-time grand prix winner in the car and we couldn’t be more excited, and think the combination of he and Lando in ’21 will be the most exciting driver line-up.”
Carlos Sainz’s switch to Ferrari, which will partner him alongside Charles Leclerc, means the Scuderia will field its youngest driver line up for 50 seasons. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto said: “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.”