Vasseur denies talks about Raikkonen/Leclerc swap

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Sauber boss Frederic Vasseur has denied that there have been any discussions with Ferrari about a possible mid-season driver swap.

Charles Leclerc has been impressing people up and down the Formula 1 pit lane during his maiden season with the team. He's been increasingly linked with a promotion to Ferrari in 2019.

Those rumours reached a new fever pitch on Friday at the Red Bull Ring, when it was suggested that Leclerc might be on his way to Maranello even sooner than that.

The latest gossip says that Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne wants Leclerc in the race seat this year - by swapping the Monegasque rookie with veteran driver Kimi Raikkonen.

However Vasseur was quick to put a stop to such speculation.

"We have a contract until the end of the season," he told reporters. However he didn't rule out a move for Leclerc next season. "We didn't speak so far about the future.

"We are focused on our job, Charles is focused on the Sauber project, and the future will be discussed later on," he continued.

"I can understand we have some rumours in the press but it's nothing to do with the reality," he said, denying that there had been a formal approach from Ferrari.

"It didn't come on the table so far," he stated.

Hakkinen: 'Leclerc takes Sauber to a different level'

Vassaur added that in his opinion it would be better for Leclerc to see out a full season at midfielders Sauber before switching to one of the big teams.

He said he didn't want the 20-year-old to be rushed to the top too fast, and to buckle under the pressure and expectation.

"It's not easy," he told Motorsport.com. "We have to take it calm. He's doing a good job for sure, he's improving, but he's not world champion.

"I don't want to have Charles destroyed by everybody," he added. "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."

Vasseur recalled how the critics had been circling over Leclerc when the youngster had struggled in the first races of the season. His breakthrough then came in Baku when he finished in the top six, and he was in the points again the following race in Spain.

Leclerc scored again in Montreal and Le Castellet. He also impressed last weekend by getting Sauber through to the final round of qualifying for the first time since the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix.

"Six months ago he was in the Formula 2 paddock and more or less nobody knew him," Vasseur said. "Today when he's in the middle of every single discussion."

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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.