Raikkonen labels Leclerc a star of the future

Kimi Raikkonen has tipped Ferrari junior Charles Leclerc to be a star of the future. The young Monegasque driver is leading the Formula 2 championship by a healthy 50 points and is eyeing up a full-time race seat in Formula 1 next year.

Leclerc joined the Ferrari Academy in 2016, joining Antonio Giovinazzi who is also hoping to claim an F1 seat for 2018. Last month, Leclerc said that being able to observe Sebastian Vettel and Raikkonen, Ferrari's current lineup, was a big help.

Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne admitted that he was hoping to turn Sauber into some form of Ferrari junior team after the Hinwil squad announced a new multi-year deal to run with Ferrari power, ditching the previous plan which involved Honda.

Speaking about his future, Leclerc said: "Obviously as I said I need to impress as many people as I can and I will give my best to do that. Then if I have an opportunity at the end of the year I will grab it with two hands but for now I am just focusing on Formula 2."

Leclerc drove Ferrari's 2017 car earlier this month at the Hungaroring during the in-season test: "It’s good if he’s happy with the whole team helping him," said Raikkonen. "It’s always tricky to come and drive a different car than you’re used to. But he has time on his side, he’s shown good progress and for sure in the future he will do good things."

Fergal Walsh