a7cacb09bc603b6823e7d64e4112377235b1cf16

Sauber not surprised by massive spike in form

17:11, 22 May 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

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.

"It is a good step forward for the team not only to score points but also to score points race after race.

"There is still a long way to go, but it is encouraging for the team and a good move for everybody.

“Charles is getting more and more confident, we have made a good step and will try to continue in that direction.”

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.

"But the first target is to achieve a better position in qualifying and we need to do that in Monaco.”

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.

"We didn't introduce a huge update package in Barcelona because we decided to do it step-by-step and race-by-race but we will have some new parts in Monaco and then again in Montreal.”