McLaren will announce Carlos Sainz as Fernando Alonso’s replacement later this week, opening the door for Pierre Gasly to step up to Red Bull next year.

On Tuesday, McLaren confIrmed Alonso will not continue in F1 beyond 2018, ending months of speculation about his future. McLaren had been making contingency plans for Alonso’s departure and was in talks with Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo about a 2019 seat.

The Ricardo talks were unsuccessful — earlier this month the Australian announced his shock move to Renault for next year, taking Sainz’s place as Nico Hulkenberg’s teammate in the process. Sainz had been at Renault this year on loan from Red Bull having been unable to secure a step up to the senior team from Toro Rosso.