As part of a daily series in the run-up to the start of pre-season, Motorsport Week brings you brief left-field reflections and stories of teams, drivers and reserve/test drivers that will be part of the Formula 1 paddock in 2019.
Charles Leclerc spent his rookie campaign in Formula 1 with Sauber and his performances were sufficiently eye-catching to earn a promotion to Ferrari for this season.
But his first official appearance in Formula 1 came with neither Sauber nor Ferrari, but with Haas.
Haas joined Formula 1 in 2016 with strong Ferrari links – a technical association remains to this day – and fielded Ferrari’s 2015 reserve Esteban Gutierrez alongside Romain Grosjean. The Haas/Ferrari connection prompted speculation that the Scuderia could use Formula 1’s newest team as a training ground for its youngsters, especially with Sauber’s form on the wane.
Ferrari academy member Leclerc took on a development role with both Ferrari and Haas, and at the British Grand Prix got behind the wheel of the latter's VF-16 during Friday’s opening practice session, taking Gutierrez's seat for the session. Leclerc finished 18th, out of 22 participants, and completed 26 laps.
Leclerc had farther runs in the VF-16 in Hungary, Germany and Brazil, but later acknowledged that FP1 runs at some weekends hindered his focus in GP3, due to the nuances of the respective machines and the tightly-packed nature of the race weekend timetable.
Leclerc was tentatively linked with a Haas race seat for 2017 but the team signed Kevin Magnussen to partner Grosjean, and the Monegasque youngster instead competed in Formula 2, after which the rejuvenated Ferrari/Sauber partnership meant there was only one place he would go…
