Reports that Carlos Sainz will move from Toro Rosso to Renault as early as the Malaysian Grand Prix have been circulating for the last week.
It's now been confirmed that Sainz will be on loan to Renault in 2018. However, the short-term situation still remains the centre of speculation.
Paddock gossip in Singapore suggested that Jolyon Palmer has been offered a large sum to walk away from his existing contract after this weekend. That would clear the way for Sainz to take over. His current seat at Toro Rosso would most likely be taken up in turn by Pierre Gasly.
The latest figure to stoke the rumours of an early switch for Sainz is none other that Red Bull motorsports advisor Dr Helmut Marko.
"Everything is possible," Marko told Germany broadcaster Sky when asked about whether a Sainz transfer could happen this month.
However, Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost insisted on Friday that he wasn't expecting his driver line-up to change this year.
"I assume Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz will finish the season with us," he told journalists.
Sainz himself played down any speculation about an imminent move. "For the moment, I will be sitting in a Toro Rosso in Malaysia," he said. "Everything else is speculation.
The decisions are made by Red Bull, Renault and others, not by me. I am ready for everything, but my thoughts are about Singapore at the moment.
"I will not close any possibility," he added. "All of these agreements we see this weekend did not involve me, so I think I would not be the one who knows first.
"It it happens I am ready even though it would not be an easy change and it would take time to adapt."
Sainz added that Red Bull's decision to 'loan' him to Renault for a single season was ""a sign that my bosses appreciate me".
There have been rumours that Renault initially wanted to secure the services of Daniel Ricciardo from the senior Red Bull team, but had to settle for Sainz instead.
"I'm not surprised," said Ricciardo yesterday when asked about the rumours. "I'm good looking and fast."
But Dr Marko said that the idea was a non-starter. "I think Renault was a little optimistic about the future," he said. "When we are on average two seconds faster, why would he change?"
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