Vasseur: Ericsson made huge step forward in '18

Frederic Vassuer believes that Marcus Ericsson made a "huge step forward" in 2018, despite Sauber's decision to drop the Swedish driver.

There's a brand new line-up at Sauber next season, with Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi replacing the outgoing Charles Leclerc and Ericsson.

Leclerc enjoyed an excellent rookie season - an excellent season which saw him earn a promotion to Ferrari for 2019; swapping with Raikkonen.

Vasseur was asked about Leclerc's performance in 2018, alongside Ericsson: "I think he did a very good job also because Marcus was improving. If you consider Marcus compared to last year, I think he made a huge step forward," Vasseur told RaceFans.

"First when he hit the track in Melbourne (Australia) he was six kilos lighter than last year and from the beginning he did a step forward compared to last year. Even the last part of the season now he is consistently in the same lap time as Charles.

"He was in front of Charles in Sao Paulo (Brazil), just behind in Austin (USA) and it was very helpful for Charles also to have someone as a reference like Marcus. 

"Marcus also has the advantage of very good technical feedback and he helped us a lot from the start of the season to take decisions on the technical side. When he joined F1 coming from F2, it's not easy to have a reference on the performance."