F1: Carlos Sainz – Ferrari, the intrahistory of an agreement that seems imminent

The 'Scuderia' accelerates the negotiations and the madrileo can still play the trick of patience, thanks to its great poster at McLaren.

Carlos Sainz and Ferrari are finalizing these days the negotiations for the Spanish to occupy the post of Sebastian Vettel from 2021. In the interest of Scuderia, multiplied on Tuesday after the farewell of the world tetracampen, adds the legitimate ambition of the Madrid player, who in 2020 ends his contract with McLaren. Sainz could become in the next few hours the third Spanish driver in the history of Ferrari, after the Portago Marqus (1956-1957) and Fernando Alonso (2010-2014). All with just 25 years old, three less than the beloved aristocrat and five less than the double world champion when they landed in Maranello. The imminent outcome forces to shed light on some issues.

Why Sainz and not another?

After 102 races in the Grand Circus, Sainz can barely boast a podium and sixth place in the Drivers' World Championship. However, his prestige among the team leaders rose like foam in throughout 2019. Now, everyone in the paddock They know of Carlos' exceptional steadfastness at the wheel, his poise in critical situations and his regularity in optimizing the car's potential. His impeccable professionalism and dedication to the engineers at the factory have also been celebrated. Thanks to its Italian fluid you will be able to better discover what is cooked inside. And his good spirit, tested since time with Max Verstappen in Toro Rosso, makes him an ideal partner to compete on equal terms with Charles Leclerc.

What will be the conditions?

A two-year contract, until the end of 2022, seems like the ideal option for Sainz, who already started that same commitment to McLaren in 2018. In any case, money does not seem a determining factor to meet the expectations of both parties, who will continue their fluid communication via telematics. Furthermore, in these critical push and pull hours, Spanish can also afford the patience, given that Zak Brown and Andreas Seidl, his bosses in Woking, continue to consider him essential in his medium-term future, with Mercedes engines already under the hood.

Does Alonso have any option?

I know what I'm going to do next year, I hope to announce it soon, revealed the Asturian last week. Of course, Alonso's immediate plans do not include Ferrari. Nor vice versa. In the first place, because he would only return to F1 after the regulatory change, postponed due to the pandemic, until 2022. A future that Ferrari has exclusively handed over to Leclerc. Second, but not least, because the bad vibes of Fernando's goodbye are still in force, six years later, among many people from the red team.

How was the end of Vettel forged?

A little over a month ago, Vettel decided to stand before his superiors, Louis Camilleri and Mattia Binotto, with whom he always had a good relationship. Of course, much more fluid than with Sergio Marchionne and Maurizio Arrivabene, its predecessors in the dome of Ferrari. The German could not understand that his renewal was taking place when all the chips had already been bet on Leclerc in the team. Binotto himself has admitted that money was never a problem. And Vettel abounded in this same thesis, surreptitiously sliding a lack of confidence and harmony.

Can it be considered a failure?

Except for a miracle in which nobody trusts, Seb leave Ferrari without the long-awaited world crown and feelings similar to those of Alain Prost, Fernando Alonso or Nigel Mansell, other champions who failed to renew their laurels at Maranello. His 14 victories in five seasons seem a mediocre balance, although even more reprehensible was the inability to fight for the title with the cars of 2017 and 2018, when he really had to discuss the title to Mercedes.

How to affect Ferrari now?

The 2020 World Cup, without an official start date, without the certainty even of its own existence, can be extremely chaotic for the red blidos. The frictions of the more recent past with Leclerc do not bode well in the garage. Because everyone in there sees Monegasque as the authentic leader, but no one doubts either that Vettel will settle for a mere status as a gregarious man. Only the professionalism of both will be able to avoid repeating scenes as embarrassing as those of the last Brazilian GP, ​​with the two cars stranded after an unfortunate hitch.