2021 Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is "well connected with the Todt family", according to former F1 driver Timo Glock.
Spaniard Sainz, whose father is the rallying legend of the same name, has been selected by the Maranello team as Sebastian Vettel’s successor.
And according to Glock, Ferrari’s notorious politics may have helped the 25-year-old current McLaren driver to secure the role.
"Carlos Sainz is well connected with the Todt family," he told the motorsport-total.com podcast Starting Grid.
Glock thinks Sainz’s father and manager will "of course" have helped the deal along.
"But Nicolas Todt is also very influential," he added, referring to clear Ferrari number 1 Charles Leclerc’s manager. Todt’s father is the FIA president and former Ferrari boss Jean Todt.
"He (Nicolas Todt) may have found a platform to say ’Everything is focused on Ferrari, and we are pulling in someone who is young, who is fast, but who we can still control a little bit’."