02/09/2017
NEWS STORY
F2 champion elect, Charles Leclerc, is to drive in four of the forthcoming FP1 sessions for Sauber, as the Monegasque prepares for what is widely thought to be his debut F1 season in 2018.
With Sebastian Vettel and, more importantly, Kimi Raikkonen staying put next year, it is widely thought that Ferrari will seek to place Leclerc, and Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, with the Swiss team.
As part of his apprenticeship, the youngster, who has previously taken part in Friday sessions with Haas, will drive the Sauber in Malaysia, Austin, Mexico and Brazil.
Giovinazzi was due to drive the Haas yesterday, but uncertainty over the weather meant the American team opted to leave Kevin Magnussen in the car.
Leclerc's amazing F2 season has been somewhat compromised of late, the Prema driver being disqualified following his Spa win for a technical infringement, just weeks after being heavily penalised for another infringement.
Sauber team boss Fred Vasseur didn't want to talk about a full 2018 race seat yesterday, insisting that for the time being Leclerc must focus solely on the F2 title.
"I think he has to be focused on the Formula 2 championship," he said, (there's) still a couple of races to go and it's a bit too early to discuss about this.
"I hope we will have the discussion at some stage!" he added. "But I think, to be honest, even for Charles it's a bit too early to put it on the table."