Carlos Sainz is officially a Scuderia Ferrari driver from 2021. Shortly after McLaren announced its decision to sign Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari announced Sainz.  Sainz joins the team as apart of a 2-year contract for 2021 and 2022.

Carlos Sainz on signing with Ferrari

As expected, Sainz was more than happy to be joining one of the most iconic teams in F1 history. The Spaniard expressed his delight but also maintained that he would be focusing on McLaren in 2020.

“I am very happy that I will be driving for Scuderia Ferrari in 2021 and I’m excited about my future with the team. I still have an important year ahead with McLaren Racing and I’m really looking forward to going racing again with them this season,” said Sainz as quoted by Ferrari on its official website.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto had words of praise for the 25-year-old. This is Ferrari’s youngest driver pairing in 50 years. Neither driver has a World Championship yet but it is clear the Scuderia is backing a more aggressive approach.

Binotto aims high

Reflecting on Ferrari’s newest acquisition, Binotto said:

“I’m pleased to announce that Carlos will join Scuderia Ferrari as from the 2021 championship.”

“With five seasons already behind him, Carlos has proved to be very talented and has shown that he has the technical ability and the right attributes to make him an ideal fit with our family.

“We’ve embarked on a new cycle with the aim of getting back to the top in Formula 1.” It will be a long journey, not without its difficulties,”

“Especially given the current financial and regulatory situation,”

“which is undergoing a sudden change and will require this challenge to be tackled in a different way to the recent past.

“We believe that a driver pairing with the talent and personality of Charles and Carlos, the youngest in the past fifty years of the Scuderia, will be the best possible combination to help us reach the goals we have set ourselves”.

All that remains is if the duo can break Ferrari’s duck and bring home a Championship back to Maranello. Leclerc and Sainz have a monumental challenge ahead as the Tifosi anxiously watch on.

Additionally, it’ll be interesting to see how Carlos can cope with Charles as a teammate.