Lewis Hamilton to ferrari is definitely the talk these days, but nobody talks about the other two situation. First of all, Sainz is gone with this new information, which will impact his season, he will not play team racing and he will try to get the most points, to him Charles is the enemy as well maybe more than anyone else and he may not listen to what others will say, no team order could make him give up positions anymore, or maybe better yet he might do it because he wants to show others he can be a team player.
Another situation is the empty Mercedes seat, sure Grossjean is a funny bit and all, but we know they will try to get someone better, I do not know who that person will be but they will really need someone great at that spot if they want to have a chance.
Still a long ways to go for them to make a hunt for a replacement driver and one who will make a great fit being considered the wingman to Russell and not better than him.
Yup as I said it will be a mess.
Sainz and Hamilton will give a hard time for the team but I guess in this case they can have penalties on their salary and they can be benched for the 3rd driver.
Ferrari should still have Giovinazzi under contract if things are really bad he will race over Sainz.
3rd driver means not on the race grid anymore. only as a test driver and reserve driver if the 2 main drivers lewis hamilton or Charles Leclerc are injured can only race on the grid again. if there is an offer from another team to be the main driver or on the science grid, he will definitely choose to leave ferarri.
Wasn't Ricciardo the third driver at Red Bull before going to AlphaTauri essentially the same organization but still driving for a different team. Think he had only one race while there. But he was on the sidelines most of the time basically being a cheerleader while at Red Bull for his stint there.
Nice little video to watch about Hamilton's move to Ferrari and why he chose to go there. It also helped him make the choice that he is very good friends with Fred Vasseur where they say he has kept in contact with him on a weekly basis:
Hamilton REVEALS The REAL Reason About Ferrari F1 Move! - The Racing Guruhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbj3zKKpj1I