F1: Carlos Sainz Jr. to replace Alonso at McLaren - MotorSportsTalk

WOKING, England (AP) Carlos Sainz Jr. will leave Renault to drive for McLaren in Formula 1 next year as a replacement for Fernando Alonso.

McLaren said it signed the 23-year-old Spaniard to a “multi-year” deal without giving further details.

“I’ve been a McLaren fan for as long as I can remember. It’s a great name in the sport with an incredible heritage,” Sainz Jr. said. “The list of drivers that have raced for McLaren over the years are among the heroes of Formula 1. Fernando is of course one of them, so it’s particularly special that I’ll be taking his seat.”

Alonso, a two-time F1 champion, said Tuesday he was leaving F1 at the end of the season after 32 wins, 22 pole positions and finishing F1 runner-up three times.

There is speculation that McLaren will enter the Verizon IndyCar Series with Alonso as one of its drivers. Alonso ran the Indianapolis 500 last year and was in position to win the race until his engine failed. Alonso also ran the Rolex 24 at Daytona as a warm-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, in which Alonso was part of the winning team.

Sainz Jr. is the son of two-time world rally champion Carlos Sainz. He will likely race alongside Belgian driver Stoffel Vandoorne, although McLaren has yet to confirm its driver lineup.

McLaren chief executive officer Zak Brown has high hopes for Sainz Jr.

“We’ve been assessing him for some time now and rate him very highly among the next generation of young talent,” Brown said.

There has been a flurry of recent activity in F1, with Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo leaving Red Bull to join Renault next year.

Ricciardo was widely expected to sign a new contract with Red Bull and his move to Renault – where he will drive alongside Nico Hulkenberg – effectively pushed Sainz Jr. out of the French team.

It also led to speculation Sainz Jr., who came through the ranks with Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s feeder team, could swap in for Ricciardo.

Instead, the vacant Red Bull seat could be taken by promising French driver Pierre Gasly, who has impressed for Toro Rosso this season.

DETROIT — Alex Palou topped the results of an NTT IndyCar Series race for the second time this season, extending his championship points lead with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also won the GMR Grand Prix (and the Indy 500 pole position) last month, holds a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson (ninth at Detroit) through seven of 17 races this season.

Ganassi, which placed all four of its drivers in the top 10 at Detroit, has three of the top four in the championship standings with Scott Dixon ranked fourth after a fourth at Detroit.

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Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden is third in the standings after taking a 10th at Detroit. Pato O’Ward slipped to fifth in the points after crashing and finishing 26th

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 100-lap race on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course in downtown Detroit.

Here is the finishing order in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
5. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
6. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
8. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
12. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 100, Running
13. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 100, Running
14. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (18) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
17. (25) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
18. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 100, Running
20. (19) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 97, Running
21. (22) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 97, Running
22. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 97, Running
23. (21) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Contact
24. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Contact
25. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 50, Contact
26. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 41, Contact
27. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 80.922 mph; Time of Race: 02:01:58.1171; Margin of victory: 1.1843 seconds; Cautions: 7 for 32 laps; Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers. Lap Leaders: Palou 1-28; Power 29-33; O’Ward 34; Palou 35-55; Power 56-64; Palou 65; Rossi 66; Newgarden 67-68; Kirkwood 69; Ericsson 70-76; Palou 77-100.

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

Top 10 in points: Palou 273, Ericsson 222, Newgarden 203, Dixon 194, O’Ward 191, Rossi 176, McLaughlin 175, Power 172, Herta 149, Rosenqvist 148.

Rest of the standings: Grosjean 145, Kirkwood 142, Lundgaard 136, Ilott 116, VeeKay 108, Ferrucci 105, Armstrong 101, Rahal 99, Malukas 91, Daly 88, DeFrancesco 81, Castroneves 80, Harvey 78, Canapino 77, Pagenaud 72, Pedersen 61, Robb 55, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Ryan Hunter-Reay 20, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5.

Next race: IndyCar will head to Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix, which will take place June 18 with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.