Leclerc: Progress looks bigger than it is

Charles Leclerc reckons Sauber’s in-season progress has looked “bigger” than it is really is given his struggles in the opening races.

Leclerc made his Formula 1 debut at the start of this season, racing alongside Marcus Ericsson at Sauber.

The duo both struggled in the opening races and it wasn’t until round four of the championship that Leclerc put his Sauber into Q2.

That resulted in Leclerc’s first points of this season to go with the two that Ericsson scored in Bahrain.

The Monaco driver would go on to add another four top-ten results with Ericsson scoring on two more occasions.

“I think we made it look bigger than it was, even though it’s huge,” Leclerc told Autosport.

“At the first race I was just not driving well, so obviously the performance was less good than it should have been because of me.

“Then from Baku until now the progress that we see is mostly because of the car, and because we progress with the car.

“So, this is definitely still a big step.

“We are now very close to Q3 in the last few grands prix, which is a very positive sign and it gives a lot of motivation to the whole team.”

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