"Vettel switches his Ferrari seat with Carlos Sainz'.
- Thierry Bakker
While the Formula 1 season has yet to start, the silly season is already running at full speed. At the beginning of this week Sebastiaan Vettel announced his departure at Scuderia Ferrari and since then all possible transfer options have been pulled out of the closet. Where first Ricciardo was associated with McLaren, now Vettel seems to be on his way to Woking again.
In itself this is not a bad choice, since current McLaren driver Carlos Sainz seems to be the first in line to succeed Vettel at the Scuderia. In that case, McLaren would switch their young talent for a quadruple world champion. Presumably the Carlos already has a deal with Ferrari, which may be announced later this week.
The reason why nothing has been announced yet, is because officially McLaren still has an option on Carlos Sainz. According to Motorprofis, McLaren will not use it in the short term, which allows the Spaniard to leave so McLaren can sign a new driver.
However, the talks seem to have already taken place, reports both about a one-year deal between the British race stable and the four-time world champion. ''Vettel should sign a contract with McLaren this week - for the time being only for one year, with the option of an extension'', Motorprofis wrote on its website.
Hopefully we will find out soon enough if the rumor is true. It stands or falls at the moment at McLaren, who therefore still has the possibility to lift the option on Sainz.