Sauber team principal Frederic Vasseur says the team has not been approached by Ferrari over promoting its driver Charles Leclerc in place of Kimi Raikkonen this season.
Rumours in the Austrian Grand Prix paddock claimed Ferrari junior driver Leclerc could take Raikkonen’s place at the team before the Belgian Grand Prix in August.
However when asked by RaceFans today Vasseur said a mid-season driver swap “didn’t come on the table so far.”“Obviously we have a contract until the end of the season and we didn’t speak so far about the future,” said Vasseur.
“I can understand that we have some rumours in the press but it’s nothing to do with the reality. We are focused on our job, Charles is focused on the Sauber project and then the future will be discussed later on.”
Vasseur said it would be better for his driver to wait until the off-season to consider a change of teams.
“I think it’s better to finish the season and to have a normal approach and speed of the process,” he said. “It’s not easy.”
Leclerc has finished in the points in four of the last five races. Vasseur admitted he “didn’t expect to get these kind of results” when asked by RaceFans, but said it wasn’t clear what was having the biggest effect on their performance.
“I don’t know what is the split between the job done by the team and the job done by the drivers,” he said.
“And honestly, we had a discussion before that I think part of the job of the drivers is to push the team into a good direction. And part of the job of the team is also to help the driver to improve and build up a strong level. It’s a mix of the two.
“[But] for sure the current results are a bit better than expected.”
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Robbie (@robbie)
29th June 2018, 15:17
Still see so little sense in this concept that I can’t understand how it even became a rumour.
RP (@slotopen)
29th June 2018, 16:10
@robbie
It makes sense from far away: LeClerc is a very talented driver, and he isn’t crashing or displaying other bad habits. Raikkonen isn’t getting it done anymore, most noticably getting out qualified. They are both Ferrari drivers. Add a double dose of fawning over LeClerc and it becomes a story to print.
But it is so out of character for Ferrari to put such an unexperianced driver in the red overalls. Completely absurd, to crazy to even print.
I’ll believe it when
Ferrari say it is done. Otherwise it is daydreaming.
Robbie (@robbie)
29th June 2018, 17:05
@slotopen Yeah for sure. Even if it was a rumour for next year I’d understand it a bit more, but I do think Leclerc could use more time in F1 before he is boosted to a Ferrari seat.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
29th June 2018, 16:31
If the rumor was about replacing Grosjean at Haas, mid-season, that would’ve had more credibility… and actually not a bad idea at all – Leclerc gets more experience in a better car with same engine, while Haas would finally score some points with the other car.
But to replace RAI, i don’t think so. Ferrari are too old school to pull a ‘Helmut Marko stunt’ like that.
stefano (@alfa145)
29th June 2018, 21:20
The idea sounds stupid to me mainly because of the “Spa-moment” of the supposed swap: Spa is clearly and notoriously Raikkonen sweetest spot on the calendar, where he always overperforms. Why waste your best chance at a victory with him at exactly that venue? Wait at least for Monza or Singapore, I say.
It sounds still silly, but just a bit less.
PJA (@pja)
29th June 2018, 21:42
I was a bit surprised by all the talk of Leclerc joining Ferrari in 2019, as I thought one season’s worth of F1 experience would not be enough for Ferrari to sign up any driver to drive for them in F1 no matter how good they seem.
When Perez was having an impressive second season with Sauber in 2012, he was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy at the time, I seem to recall the talk was that Ferrari didn’t want to put him in a race seat with them for 2013 as they wanted him to get more experience first, Perez didn’t want to wait and joined McLaren, which with that being the start of McLaren’s winless streak didn’t help his career in the long run.
It is different management at Ferrari now so perhaps their thinking has changed or perhaps the circumstances have changed, they may rate Leclerc higher and/or they maybe thinking there will definitely be a spare seat at Ferrari next season as they may not plan on keeping Raikkonen, so it could be a case that they have to sign a new driver for 2019 and they don’t want to miss the chance to sign Leclerc.
While I can see a case for Leclerc joining Ferrari for 2019 I see no sense whatsoever if the driver change was made mid-season in 2018.
Raikkonen may not be on the same level as Vettel this season, but his performances so far in 2018 are really no worse than those in any of the other seasons since he re-joined Ferrari in 2014, Ferrari extended his contract knowing what he had delivered in recent years so they can’t be disappointed by what he has done so far this year.
I also do not think it would be in Leclerc’s best interests to change teams mid-way through his debut season especially going to a big team such as Ferrari where his every move will be under the spotlight and he will be expected to deliver each race.
Leclerc should get a full season under his belt with Sauber, it will serve him better in the long run, he has put in some impressive performances so far but at this stage in his career a large part is about getting experience.
The big question will be if Ferrari and Leclerc decide 2019 is the right time for him to move up and will he be ready for such a move if it does come
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
30th June 2018, 2:19
I suspect that Ferrari will throw Leclerc into the deep end next year, and he will swim like a dolphin.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
30th June 2018, 2:15
Leclerc should go to the Kimi School, sooner than later. Consistancy wins.
OOliver
30th June 2018, 4:57
Why will Ferrari want to let go of Kimi, is it because he’s not able to support Seb? It’s definitely not because he’s not winning races, because they don’t want him to win races, as that won’t be good for Seb.
They focus on their annoited only.
I do wonder why they even bother with having a second driver