Sauber not surprised by massive spike in form

It's the first time since 2015 that Sauber has ended in the points in back-to-back races, and the team's team principal Fred Vasseur has said that this is only one of the first steps of their long-term project.

When speaking to Formula1.com, Vasseur explained that he's happy with the way things are going, even though there's still a long way to go.

“The project is a long-term one," he said.

Sauber currently have eleven points as a team thanks to Marcus Ericsson's P9-finish in Bahrain, followed up by Leclerc's impressive sixth-place in Baku (where he scored more points than Sauber did as a team in all of 2017). Leclerc followed that up by getting tenth in Barcelona and thus scoring another point.

What needs to improve is qualifying pace, Vasseur says, as the team never mounts a real challenge when they get out of Q1.

“We are improving in qualifying, but the next step for us is to try and do a proper Q2," he said.

Vasseur quickly addressed the upgrades Sauber will be making as a closing statement, saying they didn't introduce them all at the same time like some other teams.