Carlos Sainz is poised to anger McLaren by informing them he will leave and replace Sebastian Vettel at Ferrari in 2021, Motorsport Italia claims.
Early on Tuesday, growing speculation was confirmed when the Italian team announced a mutual decision had been made not to renew the four-time world champion's contract beyond this year.
Then rumours began that Ferrari had already signed a new driver to partner Charles Leclerc from next season and that could be made official as early as this week.
Well, now the cat may have been let out of the bag with Motorsport Italia's Franco Nugnes reporting Sainz is set to be confirmed within the next 48 hours, after agreeing a basic contract with only some small details left to be resolved.
One of them, he writes, is the Spaniard informing McLaren CEO Zak Brown of his decision to leave at the end of the year.
After weeks of criticising Ferrari on their stance over F1's budget cap, Nugnes predicts Brown "will not take well" Sainz's departure, particularly as McLaren had reportedly offered a two-year extension until the end of 2022.
While the second-generation driver proved his talent with a strong 2019, finishing sixth in the Constructors' standings, it is suggested the main motivation for signing Sainz is money, as Ferrari will save 20m Euros compared to re-signing Vettel.
It is also for that same reason why Ferrari looked past Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, despite being arguably a better option to join Leclerc at Maranello.
Ultimately, we'll have to wait and see if this report is true but, adding the other speculation to this, it certainly appears credible.
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