Sauber engineer says ‘very special’ 26-year-old was ‘quite impressive’ in his first F1 test

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Sauber engineer Jorn Becker has recalled the ‘special’ impression one F1 driver left in his first test with the team.

The Swiss outfit, currently known as Stake F1 Team, have historically helped to bring through plenty of young talent in the top tier of motorsport.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Becker reflected on his first glimpse of one of their most notable products.

2007 F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen made his F1 debut with the team in the 2001 season.

The same can be said for Felipe Massa, who started out in 2002 and would later become Raikkonen’s teammate at Ferrari.

Massa narrowly missed out on the 2008 title to McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton.

During their partnership with BMW, Sauber also handed a first race start to Sebastian Vettel, deputising for an injured Robert Kubica, at the 2007 United States Grand Prix.

Vettel went on to win four straight titles with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013.

More recently, Grand Prix winners Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc started their F1 careers at Hinwil in 2011 and 2018 respectively.

Jorn Becker shares moment he knew Charles Leclerc was a gem

Becker, who worked as a race engineer for eight years before shifting into a different role, said Leclerc stunned the team at the outset.

Those present at his first test were struck by both the speed of his adaptation and his attention to detail.

He feels the Monegasque’s ‘very academic’ approach serves him well up against ‘outstanding’ competitors who don’t share the same mindset.

Becker said: “When he was testing for the first time for us, we have a reference data set – a baseline – where we can measure how quickly he can adapt to F1, and during this test we could all already recognise that Charles was very special.

“His way of working was special too.

“During testing, he always had a small black book in the car. And after each run he made some notes to remember – the most important details.

“And then in the debrief later on he was referring to the information he wrote down during the session, which is quite impressive.

“He had a very academic approach. Some outstanding drivers are not interested in the technical side, and then they converge to a certain level where they do not improve any more.

“They just reach the limit of their talents. But the top guys find this extra step by being very good in car development and set-up.”

How many Grands Prix has Charles Leclerc won?

Leclerc, then a Ferrari junior driver, spent a single season with Sauber in 2018 alongside Marcus Ericsson.

He impressed the Scuderia by scoring 39 of the team’s 48 points, and earned a swift promotion to race alongside Vettel in 2019.

In his first year with the Prancing Horse, he scored his first victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, and he followed that up with a memorable triumph at Ferrari’s home race in Monza a week later.

He added three more victories to his tally in 2022 in Bahrain, Australia and Austria.

Red Bull director Helmut Marko felt he could have challenged for the title that year without poor strategic decisions and driving errors.

Leclerc hasn’t taken the chequered flag since, with Carlos Sainz responsible for the team’s last three victories.

Most recently, Sainz led home Leclerc at the Australian Grand Prix last weekend for the team’s first one-two finish in two years.

Leclerc has only won five races despite taking 23 pole positions, one of the poorest ratios in F1 history.