Max Verstappen has tipped Carlos Sainz to beat his former Red Bull Formula 1 teammate Daniel Ricciardo in the race to replacꦯe Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari for 2021.

ꦆFerrari announced on Tuesday morning that Vettel would be leaving the team at the end of the season after both parties failed to agree terms over a contract extension.

Vettel’s departure has blown open the 2021 driver market and resulted in a number of drivers being linked to his vacated seat at Ferrari, with S🅰ainz and Ricciardo understood to be the leading contenders.

“The speculation was going on a bit, is he going to continue with Ferrari or not – well today it’s out, he’s not,” Verstappen said as he♔ reacted to the development during an Instagram Q&A with former F1 driver David Coulthard for Puma.

“I guess also very soon we’ll find out who the replacement is going to be. It’s definitely not me, I can tell you. I’m at Red Bull. I saw some questions com🤡ing along if I was going to Ferrari, but I’m not.

“It is what it is. Somebody else gets an oppor⭕tunity to drive now for Ferrari, and of course it’s a great team, and I’m sure they will make th🙈e right decision about the next driver. Let’s see what’s going to happen there.” 

When Coulthard asked Verstappen which driver he thought would get the Ferrari seat, hinting between Ricciardo and Sainz, Verstappen added: “I think it’s not going to 🐟be the Italian sounding name.

“Let’s see. At the end of the day, it’s just a guess. We’ll hav✤e to wa🐼it and see.”

Wide-ranging reports across Italian, Spanish and German media outlets on Tuesday evening suggested 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Sainz has emꦕerged as the favourite for the Ferrari s🍌eat, adding the move could be m🃏ade official within days.