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Frederic Vasseur says Charles Leclerc will take some time to get up to speed in F1. In Bahrain, it was Marcus Ericsson who scored Sauber's breakthrough points of 2018, despite the fact that rookie Leclerc was earlier touted as the team's new superstar.
"I do not take such a categorical position," boss Vasseur said in China. "'Yesterday Marcus was nowhere, now he's a superstar instead of Charles'. That's all wrong. We talked a lot during the offseason and Charles knew it would be difficult because F1 is different from F2," Vasseur added.
So while reigning Formula 2 champion Leclerc will get time to shine, Vasseur said he is happy with Swede Ericsson: "We were criticised when we decided to keep working with Marcus, but he progressed," Vasseur said. "He trained hard in the offseason, dropping many kilograms. But the point was not his weight, but the fact that he demonstrated his determination." (GMM)
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (3)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Well yes, its only the third race, and he hasnt performed badly.
Orchide
Posts: 82
This is a race to forget for LeClerc...one of the weakest performances today.
Kean
Posts: 692
Seems like the step from F2 to F1 is bigger today, than the step was from GP2 to F1 prior to 2014. However, look at Vandoorne who like Leclerc was praised for his performance in GP2/F2, he still looks pretty bleak even after a full season (granted it could be Alonso that is making him look bad). The point being that an F2 champion doesn't necessarily translate to a star in F1. That being said, I still believe that Leclerc will shine. Also, Ericsson deserves a little praise. Looking back to 2015 he began that season off the pace compared to Nasr, but the 2nd half of 2015 and during 2016 he was faster than Nasr. But off course Nasr scored the 2 points in 2016 (thanks to outer circumstance) and all of a sudden he is seen as the faster driver. Again in 2017 it was Wehrlein that scored the points (thanks to outer circumstances) but it was very close between them. So close that I believe that it was thanks to Ericssons qualities when working with the engineers that clinched it for him. If it was just about putting a driver in a car and telling him to go fast, then Wehrlein would have been my pick. But if you add the job of guiding the engineers, giving solid feedback and developing a car then I think Wehrlein was lacking (wasn't it because of that that Force india passed on him?)