Ricciardo’s shock announcement of a departure post 2018 has shaken up the driver market.
Renault’s announcement that Daniel would accompany Hulkenberg next year means that Carlos Sainz finds himself in a tricky situation.
Carlos Sainz who is currently racing for Renault is contractually bound by Red Bull. However, according to reports in Motorsport Italy, Sainz is not the favourite to land that vacant Red Bull seat.
Helmut Marko has been extremely impressed by the way Gasly has driven for Toro Rosso this year and as a reason of that he is on top of the ‘Ricciardo replacement list’.
Along with Marko’s affirmative, the Sainz-Verstappen relationship is also a reason for Red Bull opting for Gasly.
The duo suffered a tense 2015 season at Toro Rosso and Red Bull don’t want a repeat of that from next season.
With Gasly in line to move to Red Bull, the path is almost clear for Sainz to make the move to McLaren. However, a lot of it would also depend on Alonso’s 2019 decision.
Amidst all this Toro Rosso would have to search high and low for a driver, now that Dan Ticktum won’t have the necessary license points to compete in F1 from next season.
The driver market is going to experience some volatility in the next few weeks and it promises to be fun.
