Sauber team boss Fred Vasseur has underlined the role Marcus Ericsson had in pushing Charles Leclerc during his first season in Formula 1.

Though the Monegasque was largely considered the superior driver at the Swiss team this year, something that was also reflected in the Drivers' standings, the relative performance between the pair was relatively close.

And though Sauber ultimately dropped Ericsson for Kimi Raikkonen, with Antonio Giovinazzi taking the Ferrari junior seat that was filled by Leclerc, Vasseur believes the Swede was a very strong asset to the squad.

“I think he [Charles] did a very good job also because Marcus was improving,” the Frenchman was quoted by PlanetF1.

“If you consider Marcus compared to last year, I think he made a huge step forward.

“When he hit the track in Melbourne he was six kilos lighter than last year and from the beginning, he did a step forward compared to last year.

“Even the last part of the season he was consistently in the same lap time as Charles.

“He was in front in [qualifying in] Sao Paulo, just behind in Austin and it was very helpful for Charles also to have someone as a reference like Marcus.”

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For 2019, Ericsson has headed to IndyCar and will continue in a reserve driver role at Sauber though he has largely played down that position.

Perhaps the decision to maintain him can be explained by what Vasseur picked out as the 28-year-old's best attribute.

“Marcus also has the advantage of very good technical feedback and he helped us a lot from the start of the season to take decisions on the technical side,” the Sauber boss noted.

“When he joined F1 coming from F2, it’s not easy to have a reference on the performance.”