Leclerc a good comparison for Ericsson at Sauber

Sauber team principal Fred Vasseur believes that Charles Leclerc was a good marker for Marcus Ericsson during their time together as teammates at the team. Ericsson was dropped by the team for 2019 and will race in IndyCar with Schmidt Peterson Motorsport.

Although the Swede struggled compared to his Ferrari academy teammate, Vasseur believes that the two's rivalry within the team was healthy and that Leclerc represented a good comparison for Ericsson and forced him to raise his game

“If you consider Marcus compared to (2017) I think he did a huge step forward. When he hit the track in Melbourne he was 6 kg lighter,” Vasseur is quoted by Crash.net.

“From the beginning, he did a step forward. Even in the last part of the season, he was consistently in the same part of lap time as Charles who was in front of him, or just behind him.

“It was very helpful for Charles also to have someone as a reference as Marcus. Marcus also had the advantage of giving good feedback and he helped us a lot during the season to take a decision on the technical side.

“When (Leclerc) joined from F1 coming from F2, it is not easy to have a reference on performance.”

Leclerc scored the majority of Sauber's points in 2018 and impressed many in the paddock leading to his promotion to Ferrari while Antonio Giovinazzi comes into the Sauber team to replace Ericsson and will partner alongside Kimi Raikkonen for the 2019 season.