The 2020 Formula 1 season saw the end of the working relationship between Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari.

In fact, Ferrari has not extended the contract with the German driver, who will race for Aston Martin from next year, and his place will be taken by Carlos Sainz Jr who will finish this 2020 season aboard McLaren.

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/17041/f1-official-vettel-joins-aston-martin-in-2021

So McLaren found themselves having to sign a new contract with another driver in order to fill the seat that Sainz will leave for 2021.

The contract was signed with Daniel Ricciardo who will leave Renault to race with the McLaren team alongside Lando Norris who will remain in the British team.

With the 2021 agreements in place, it seems that it is better for the teams to issue an early contract so that the drivers can integrate into the new teams early.

Against expectations, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has announced that the team will not accept this agreement as he believes the relationship between Sainz and the Woking team's collaborators is still solid unlike the problems that are being encountered in other teams.

"We're happy with our driver line-up this year," Brown declared.

"We're happy with everyone else's driver line-up this year.

"I think we have two drivers that are doing an excellent job, and some other teams which have disruption in their garage.

"So I think I want to continue the harmonious relationship we have going on right now. And I think if we were to consider changing that, it would maybe only be to the benefit of other teams that are maybe a little bit more destabilized in the garage."

Additionally, McLaren has proven capable of fighting with the top teams and is currently third in the Constructors' Championship standings behind Mercedes and Ferrari, but they need to focus on the teams behind because they could be real contenders for the placement in the standings.

"Ultimately, our goal is to catch whoever is in first place: and that's been Mercedes for quite some time,

"We're certainly encouraged that we are now racing Ferrari because we weren't last year and haven't been for quite some time.

"I'm more encouraged that we're closing the gap, and I think in 2022, with this reset for all of us, I think that gives us a great opportunity. That being said, you know, Renault's coming on strong, Racing Point is quick and just got a four-time world champion.

"So I think while we want to catch the three teams that are in front of us now, or in this instance, currently two teams, I think we need to pay a lot of attention and recognize that teams four, five, six and even seven right now, are all going to be serious contenders when the budget cap comes in.

"Everyone's starting on a clean sheet of paper, which I think that then means we're going to have an awesome era of Formula 1." he concluded.