McLaren has confirmed Carlos Sainz as Fernando Alonso’s replacement for 2019. The Woking outfit announced a multi-year deal with Sainz,  starting from next season.

The company’s CEO Zak Brown said: “We’re incredibly excited to have Carlos join us as a McLaren driver,”

“We’ve been assessing him for some time now and rate him very highly among the next generation of young talent emerging through the ranks in Formula 1.”

The biggest hurdle in getting Sainz was the option that RedBull held on him until the end of September.

The Milton Keynes outfit had loaned out Sainz to Renault for 2018 F1 season. So McLaren had to wait until the option lapses or Red Bull withdrew it.

This announcement means Red Bull has made up its mind about promoting Pierre Gasly to the senior team’s race seat for next year.

Sainz said: “I’m delighted to finally be able to confirm that I’ll be a McLaren driver from the 2019 season.

“It’s something I’ve been looking at for a while and I’m very excited about this next chapter in my career.”

Sainz has consistently demonstrated his skills in the midfield and has been racing in F1 since 2015. With his confirmation, McLaren has a choice on what to do with the next seat.

There are many potential drivers for the second seat including McLaren junior Lando Norris, Mercedes junior Esteban Ocon and the outfit’s current driver Stoffel Vandoorne.

The Belgian is likely to be in the ‘ to be fired’  list as he has had an unimpressive performance since his entry to F1. But they are still unsure about promoting Norris.

If Vandoorne loses his seat at McLaren, there are very few teams who would take him. There is a chance he could join Toro Rosso since Gasly is getting promoted and Brendon Hartley is still struggling to get a hang of F1. But will Red Bull accept a driver that was thrown out of McLaren?