Frederic Vasseur felt the Canadian Grand Prix weekend was a good one for his Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team as Charles Leclerc ensured a fourth top ten finish of the season for the Hinwil-based outfit at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
That fourth points finish of the season – three of them for Leclerc and one for Marcus Ericsson – confirmed to Vasseur that the team are on an upward spiral, but he feels it is important that the team remain focused as they aim to become a genuine midfield team.
“Everything is coming together and looking positive, and good steps are being made as a team,” said Vasseur. “We have to stay focused and continue working in this direction for the upcoming races.”
Leclerc inherited tenth place when Fernando Alonso was forced to retire, and despite pressure from Pierre Gasly and Romain Grosjean, the Monegasque racer was able to hang on to the position. This was all after he managed to advance into the second phase of Qualifying on Saturday for a fourth consecutive race weekend.
Team-mate Ericsson was unable to match Leclerc and was a twice-lapped fifteenth, with Vasseur feeling the Swede was unfortunate to get stuck behind a rival after his pit stop, even though the stop was the quickest of the race.
“Overall it was a good weekend for us,” said Vasseur. “We had one car in Q2 (Charles Leclerc) again – it was the fourth time in a row for us.
“The race today was also good. Charles managed to stay ahead of his competitors and fight his way forward, scoring a point for the team again.
“Marcus did a good job as well, but unfortunately got stuck behind another car after his pit stop. The team did a good job with a very fast pit stop again.”
