F1 | Alfa Romeo Sauber, Vasseur: “Ericsson was a very useful reference for Leclerc”

According to Frederic Vasseur, the presence of Marcus Ericsson had a positive impact on the process of integrating Charles Leclerc into Formula 1. Despite having collected 30 points less in the World Championship, the 28-year-old Swede, who next year will be 'demoted' to the role of third driver in favor of Antonio Giovinazzi, completed his best career season, encouraging the future Ferrari driver to raise the bar: an aspect that the Alfa Romeo Sauber team principal did not underestimate.

“I think Charles did an excellent job, this is also because Marcus has improved” – Vasseur's words reported by racer.com. “I think Marcus (compared to 2017, ed.) has made a huge step forward. When he took to the track for the first time in Melbourne, he weighed six kilos less than the previous year and from the start he took a step forward. Even in the last part of the season, he was constantly close to Charles: he was ahead of him in Sao Paulo and just behind him in Austin. Having a reference like Marcus was very helpful for Charles. Marcus also has the advantage of providing excellent feedback and this has helped us a lot in making decisions on the technical side in some phases of the season. When you arrive in Formula 1 from Formula 2 it's not easy to have a reference on performance".