Who is next in line at Toro Rosso?

On Saturday morning, it was announced Sebastian Vettel would be leaving Red Bull at the end of the season and would be subsequently replaced by Daniil Kvyat. With several candidates in line to replace the Russian, who is most likely to partner Max Verstappen in 2015?

Carlos Sainz Jr. 

The favourite and most logical choice would be Carlos Sainz Jr. The Spaniard is currently competing in the Formula Renault 3.5 championship where he leads the championship ahead of fellow Spaniard Roberto Merhi. Sainz Jr. has been very impressive this year in Formula Renault 3.5 and is within touching distance of winning the title. Sainz only needs 6 points to win the championship.

Despite Sainz Jr being the most logical choice, it should be noted head of the Red Bull young driver programme Dr Helmut Marko defies logic on most occasions as earlier in the year he chose 17-year old Max Verstappen over Sainz Jr and it may happen again if Marko see’s necessary.

Pierre Gasly

Another hot prospect is Pierre Gasly. He is also competing in the Formula Renault 3.5 series. At only 18-years of age, the Frenchman sits third in the championship accumulating 172 points with six podium finishes to his name. Gasly started his karting career in 2006. After spending three years in his home country France, he moved up to the international level and finished third in the CIK-FIA World Cup in his début year.

In 2011, Gasly made his début in single-seaters, taking part in the French F4 Championship 1.6 litre category where he finished third in the championship. He was crowned Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion in 2013 before making a move to Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014. Gasly made his GP2 Series début in 2014 at the Italian Grand Prix, replacing Caterham driver Tom Dillmann who had other racing commitments – Caterham later announced Gasly would drive for them until the remainder of the season.

Alex Lynn

British driver Alex Lynn is the eldest of three at 21-years of age. Lynn currently leads the GP3 series championship and looks set to win his first championship since 2011 where he won the British Formula Renault Championship. Lynn began his racing career in karting at the age of eleven and quickly progressed through various junior formula such as British F3 and European F3. If Lynn was to be given the Toro Rosso seat it would not be a complete surprise as Danill Kvyat was promoted from GP3 to F1 after winning the GP3 title (which Lynn is expected to do).

Ultimately I believe Carlos Sainz Jr. will be placed alongside Max Verstappen for 2015 as he will become the first Red Bull junior to win the Formula Renault 3.5 series and is more experienced than Gasly and Lynn in single-seaters. However it would not surprise me if Gasly or Lynn got the seat for 2015 as they both have the talent and potential to succeed in Formula One.