Formula 1: Daniel Ricciardo tipped to replace Carlos Sainz Jr. at McLaren
By Asher Fair
Daniel Ricciardo has been tipped to replace Carlos Sainz Jr. at McLaren for the 2021 Formula 1 season with Sainz likely headed to Ferrari to replace Sebastian Vettel.
With four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari having announced that they will be going their separate ways after the 2020 season comes to an end, two drivers emerged as frontrunners to replace the 32-year-old German.
Those two drivers were Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr.
Sainz has since been tipped to join Ferrari as the teammate to Charles Leclerc beginning next season, with that announcement expected to come officially from Maranello later this week.
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But that doesn’t mean that Ricciardo won’t be directly impacted by Vettel’s departure. The 30-year-old Australian, while he likely won’t end up in red next year, has now been tipped to replace the 25-year-old Spaniard at McLaren alongside Lando Norris beginning next year.
That deal is also expected to be officially announced as early as later this week.
After spending five seasons with Red Bull Racing, Ricciardo made the shocking move to leave for Renault on a two-year deal after the 2018 season in the hopes that his gamble would pay off and Renault would make a big step forward.
Unfortunately, that did not pan out, as Ricciardo placed ninth in the driver standings last year, three spots and 42 points removed from the “best of the rest” title held by Sainz in sixth with 96.
McLaren had shown interest in Ricciardo before he made the decision to leave Red Bull Racing for Renault. In fact, they were reportedly “pretty close” to luring him away.
Now it appears as though they will get their opportunity to put the seven-time Grand Prix winner in orange and blue, and given the huge strides that they made last year in what was their first season with Sainz and Norris behind the wheel, this move looks as though it could bode very well for both sides.
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It is also worth noting that McLaren are set to switch back to Mercedes engines for the first time since 2014 next year, a move that could very well help them close the gap to the perennial top three teams of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing.