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Leclerc: Sauber still has work to do to for Hungarian Grand Prix

11:40, 28 Jul 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Charles Leclerc believes that Sauber have a lot of work to do still in preparation for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver missed free practice one having made way for Antonio Giovinazzi to complete driving duties.

Speaking after Friday's second practice, Leclerc admitted that the team were playing catch-up going into Saturday and that a lot of work had to be done in order to be competitive come race day.

“Today was a more difficult day. I missed the first free practice and had some catching up to do during the second session.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us to get to where we want to be for the rest of the weekend.

“Hopefully we will manage to take a step in the right direction, and build on our performance from the past weeks."

Leclerc will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing German Grand Prix in which he failed to finish in the top 10 after a pit-stop for intermediate tyres backfired. Leclerc has been in good form despite that, scoring points in three of the last five events, a feat that has put him on Ferrari's radar for a possible driver in 2019.

He has reason to be hopeful however, with a new Ferrari power unit in the car for this weekend and the recent boost in performance for Ferrari customers, Sauber could well be in the hunt for Q3 if they put together a decent enough lap.