Ferrari protege Charles Leclerc impresses for Sauber F1 with solid finish at Spanish GP. Leclerc’s home Grand Prix around streets of Monaco comes next.

F1 rookie and Scuderia Ferrari protégé Charles Leclerc continues to impress in his debut season after scoring points in consecutive Grands Prix for backmarkers Sauber. The young Monégasque driver finished 10th in Sunday’s F1 Spanish Grand Prix, two laps behind race-winner Lewis Hamilton.

The Ferrari Driver Academy came into F1 with a huge reputation. Back-to-back GP3 and Formula 2 titles saw the Ferrari junior driver propelled into the Sauber seat with some even calling for him to have been granted Kimi Raikkonen’s seat at Ferrari. After struggling with the transition to F1 in the first few Grands Prix and having to learn new tracks, Charles Leclerc has settled and 10th-place in Spain saw him become the first Sauber driver since Felipe Nasr in 2015 to score points in two consecutive races. He finished sixth in Axerbaijan.

“I am very happy. I still think there are things that I could have done better, but at the end I’m in P10 today in Barcelona where we definitely did not expect it. Before the weekend we thought P15 would have been difficult to get and we got to Q2 and now P10 with one point to take home so, points twice in a row, it feels great. I think the start (was key). I had a very good start and I think it was (Pierre) Gasly who I overtook then I’ve been a bit lucky because in turn three I overtook but there was the crash also. I’m obviously very happy with the start of the season. The two first races were difficult but I learnt a huge amount. The third race, I didn’t put everything together and from the fourth race to now, the two last races, have been very, very positive. It’s great and now we’ll work to just achieve that every race weekend.” – he explianed.

Charles Leclerc’s home Grand Prix around streets of Monaco comes next and the Monegasque driver is aiming for more points, adding, “This is going to be a very special race for me. I will push very hard, work as much as possible in the few weeks we have in front of us to hopefully get some points in Monaco.”