Sauber to announce 2018 line-up "in the next couple of weeks"

Sauber team principal Frederic Vasseur has revealed that a decision on its 2018 driver line-up will be made soon, as the team is to announce who will race for them next season "in the next couple of weeks". It is not yet clear who will drive for the team, with Vasseur admitting Ferrari will have a major role in the negotiations.

It is very likely that either Antonio Giovinazzi or Charles Leclerc will get a race seat at the team after a multi-year engine deal was recently announced between Sauber and Ferrari. Giovinazzi and Leclerc are both Ferrari juniors, and are in a prime position to step in next year.

Currently, Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein hold the seats at the Swiss team, with Wehrlein likely to be making way at the end of the season due to his Mercedes links. However, Ericsson's sponsors partly finance Sauber, which could be key in deciding next year's line-up.

Vasseur knows both Wehrlein and Ericsson well: “Yes, I was running a DTM team in 2015 when Pascal won the championship and Marcus did one race in GP2 with me at the end of 2010, so I know both of them,” Vasseur told Formula1.com.

Vasseur added that Ferrari will take part in driver negotiations for 2018: "I want to spend time with them before taking a decision. But the driver issue is also a point for discussion with Ferrari – and we very likely will take a decision about our 2018 line-up in the next couple of weeks."

Fergal Walsh