NO OTHER DISTRACTIONS
Thanks to its new engine, Sauber is unlikely to be propping up the F1 field this year. The team will also want to turn heads in the first season of its Alfa tie-up. But, as he’s already pointed out, that won’t faze Leclerc.
It helps that as well as getting to know Ericsson during his practice outings last year, Sauber is not unfamiliar territory to the Monegasque racer. The sessions also gave him a solid starting base going into the new year, although some things will of course change with the new car.
“I’ve worked with all of [Sauber] last year during the FP1S, which I think has been very helpful for me to be more familiar with the team,” Leclerc explains. “It helped because F1 is very different to F2 – especially as all the procedures and things like that are quite hard to learn and to be familiar with.
“In F1, I believe from one year to another the cars change quite a lot so
I’ll have to readapt to a new car. But this is the same for everyone else so
I will just try to be on the pace as quickly as possible.”