Is this Carlos Sainz's big moment?
Carlos Sainz's star in F1 has been very much on the ascendency over the last three seasons, and his strong first season at McLaren in 2019 has made him quite the hot property. He's just the sort of popular, hungry driver who would fit in well at Ferrari.
Like most of the drivers on the grid, Sainz is a free agent at the end of the season. However he's been talking positively about early contract extension talks with Andreas Seidl, and the team certainly appears keen to keep their current dynamic pairing of young drivers in place for the long haul if possible.
It's easy to see why Sainz might be Ferrari's preferred choice at this point - but Sainz might find it easier to resist their advances.
It's what made this week's rumours that McLaren had approached Vettel for 2021 so unexpected. Which driver was the team considering ejecting from the race seat? It would make more sense if it turned out they'd already received advance word that Sainz was on his way to Maranello, making Vettel's mooted trip in the other direction effectively a like-for-like straight swap between the two squads.
Ricciardo has more experience (three poles, seven wins, 29 podiums compared to just a solitary third place for Sainz in last year's Brazilian GP) but at 25 years old the Spaniard is the better bet for the long term, and perhaps a more suitable match for Charles Leclerc. It's easy to see why Sainz might be Ferrari's preferred choice at this point; but equally Sainz looks more settled in his current spot, and might find it easier to resist Ferrari's advances.
