As time passes, the moment is getting closer when Mercedes will have to step in and announce who will replace Lewis Hamilton, who is leaving for Scuderia Ferrari at the end of the season.
The news has been about Andrea Kimi Antonelli's arrival for a long time, and the FIA recently overturned the Verstappen rule because of him. At that time, it seemed that the Italian would be the finisher, but now Ralf Schumacher has come out of the dark and claims the complete opposite:
"Many were absolutely certain that he would be a Williams driver, but I think it will turn out completely differently. Alpine could also be a problem, but I heard that he is increasingly on Mercedes' radar. Toto Wolff is paying a lot of attention to him, and I can already see him as George Russell's teammate... Carlos Sainz is a great driver who is in high spirits, all the burden has been lifted off him, and he is fighting for the available places with this in mind. It is a strange but liberating feeling for him that he no longer has to match Ferrari, and although Charles Leclerc is even better than him in raw speed, he makes proportionally more mistakes. He still needs to work on this, but if he finds his place and gets into flow, he will be capable of great things." - Schumacher spoke approvingly about Sainz.
