Formula One: Carlos Sainz Jr. joins Renault for 2018

In an expected and exciting move that was predicted this weekend, it has been announced that Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jr. has signed a deal to switch from Scuderia Toro Rosso to Renault for the 2018 season.

Carlos Sainz Jr., the son of the great rally driver of the same name, will join German Nico Hulkenberg on the Renault Formula One team in 2018, and in a strange and unusual twist, the former team of the Spaniard will change their engines next season to Honda. In exchange for this, it will free up the Renault engine that for next season will be fitted for the McLaren team, which in turn, will ditch the Japanese engine.

This crazy and twisty idea still has not convinced Fernando Alonso to remain with McLaren, now that the current Honda power plant will not be used for 2018. However, Alonso’s decision might be made at any time now that the McLaren team will be supplied with French power.

With Sainz out for next season and a new power plant supplier, Toro Rosso now has a driver position open for next year, and this could go to perhaps a third French driver by the name of Pierre Gasly. The Upper Normandy pilot has been the tester for the squad for two seasons now, and it might even be possible that maybe as early as the next two races that Gasly could be joining regular Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat and Sainz could bump out Renault’s current British driver Jolyon Palmer.