Sauber respond to Raikkonen-Leclerc mid season swap rumours

The Leclerc to Ferrari rumours do seem to have some credibility to them as Gazetta dello Sport has reported that the deal is apparently already in place, with contract details laid out too.

But there has been a ‘crazier’ rumour that has been doing the rounds, which states that Ferrari and Sauber have agreed on a mid-season swap for Raikkonen and Leclerc.

The Sauber team boss, Frederic Vassuer, has rubbished those rumours, confirming that no such communication has happened between the two teams.

“We have a contract until the end of the season and we didn’t speak so far about the future.

“I can understand we have some rumours in the press but it’s nothing to do with the reality.

“We are focused on our job, Charles is focused on the Sauber project, and the future will be discussed later on.” Vassuer said.

He  spoke to the media about how they were initially criticising him for not being able to adjust to F1 at the start of the season and how they are now linking him to Ferrari after a few good performances.

“You came back to me [after China, where Leclerc spun in the race] with ‘Charles is not performing, how can you explain the situation? He is in deep shit’ and the week after he is world champion,” Vassuer said.

“We have to take it calm. He’s doing a good job for sure, he’s improving, but he’s not world champion.

“If he has some issues over the next races, and he will have because you can’t have a clean sheet on the season, I don’t want to have Charles destroyed by everybody.

“He has a very good learning curve and it’s ramping up. I’m very happy, I’m very proud of the job he has done. But he’s not world champion.” he added.

Vassuer spoke highly of Leclerc for not being fazed by the rumours around his switch to Ferrari.

“Six months ago he was in the Formula 2 paddock and more or less nobody knew him,” he said.

“There is a huge difference between the end of November in Abu Dhabi and today when he’s in the middle of every single discussion.

“I am impressed by the calm he has.” he concluded.