With Sebastian Vettel leaving Ferrari with the end of 2020, and the rumours of Carlos Sainz Jr replacing him, the first puzzle has fell into its place. Today McLaren Racing announced that Daniel Ricciardo, currently driving for Renault F1 will be joining the team from season 2021 with a multi-year contract. 

Ricciardo, who rose to his fame in Red Bull Racing left the team and switched to Renault for the 2019 and 2020 season. The Australian from Perth, who’s currently 30 years old will join the young Brit Lando Norris. It has been announced that Carlos Sainz Jr will leave McLaren by the end of 2020, after 2 seasons with McLaren. 

Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing expressed that his looking forward to see Ricciardo in the team. As he said: “Signing Daniel is another step forward in our long-term plan and will bring an exciting new dimension to the team, alongside Lando. This is good news for our team, partners and of course our fans. I also want to pay tribute to Carlos for the excellent job he has been doing for McLaren in helping our performance recovery plan. He is a real team player and we wish him well for his future beyond McLaren.”

Additionally, Andreas Siedl, the team principal of McLaren commented: “Daniel is a proven race-winner and his experience, commitment and energy will be a valuable addition to McLaren and our mission to return to the front of the field. With Daniel and Lando as teammates, I believe we have two racers who will continue to excite our fans and help the team grow. Carlos is a true professional, a pleasure to work with and we will continue to enjoy going racing with him this year. We all wish him good luck for the next stage in his career when he leaves McLaren.”