Sauber resigned to losing Leclerc to Ferrari?

Sauber chief Frederic Vasseur has spoken about the future of dynamic young driver Charles Leclerc, who had an excellent French Grand Prix, addressing the rumours of potential interest from Ferrari, and said that he believes it to be 'a problem for the rich'.

The 20-year-old produced a superb flying lap in qualifying to finish in P8 and then held his nerve in the race, avoided all of the carnage on the first lap to end the race in 10th position.

His display drew praise from fellow drivers and former world champions Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, who branded his performance 'very impressive'.

Leclerc has arguably been the breakout star of the season so far, and with speculation continuing to mount over the future of Kimi Raikkonen, it is thought that Ferrari have identified the Frenchman as the partner for Vettel next year.

Vassuer said that it is not a problem that he can worry about, and he is more concerned about the progress that the whole team has made across 2018.

He stated to Autosport: "It’s a problem for the rich at the end of the day.

“It’s much better to have this feeling that you could lose something than you would like to have something. It’s a great feeling. We know we are improving, in the company, in every single area of the company, every single department.

“Everybody is pushing like hell, and Charles is part of the system, and one of the pillars. My job as team principal of Sauber is to stay focused on the current situation.

“I don’t want to think too much about the future. We have a lot of work to do with the team, with the drivers, Charles and Marcus also, and the most important thing is to stay focused and not start to think too much.”