Leclerc will 'wait and see' before setting 2018 targets

©Ferrari

Three months before his F1 race début with Alfa Romeo Sauber, Charles Leclerc is reluctant to set expectations for 2018.

Leclerc won this year's Formula 1 championship in his maiden season. The Ferrari Driver Academy driver was duly tapped to take over the Sauber seat from Pascal Wehrlein next season alongside Marcus Ericsson.

Leclerc has already taken part in eight free practice sessions - four with Haas in 2016, and four with Sauber this season.

“It was a great experience to drive a few FP1 sessions and tyre tests for the Sauber F1 Team in 2017," he said this month.

"The team welcomed me straight away. It is a great working environment, and I already feel confident and comfortable here.

"In 2018, my aim will be to gain more experience in Formula 1, and to bring as much value to the team as possible in return."

Leclerc said it was far too soon to be more specific with his objectives for his first season in Formula 1.

Leclerc's race number and the reason he chose it

"I guess it’s quite hard to make them before you actually put your car on the track and see what it’s really worth," he explained.

"In junior categories, you can expect something and target something. But in Formula 1 it’s a lot harder. The differences between the cars are bigger.

"We’ll see after the first test. As usual, I’ll try to make the best work possible in the car. It’s difficult to expect something now."

Sauber's closer ties with Ferrari mean it will have an updated Alfa Romeo-badged engine for 2018. But other teams will also be making advances over the off-season.

"We have the new power unit, that should be a big step. Hopefully we can do also a step in the car," he said. "But it also depends on how big the step of the other teams will be. This we’ll have to see."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.