Sauber "surprised" at their own 2018-success

Sauber actually being semi-competitive this season was a surprise for the general public, but the drivers of the team itself now also revealed that they didn't expect the first half of the season to have gone as well as it did.

The team might not be fighting for championships, but they are getting points regularly. They're currently in ninth place in the constructors' championship, with only Williams behind them, but there's a good atmosphere at the team.

"Our first half of the season was incredible," Marcus Ericsson told Motorsport-Total.

"Considering where we stood in the past two years, it's more than we dreamed of."

Their current yield is eighteen points, which is more than double the amount of points they earned in the past two years combined (2 in 2016 and 5 in 2017). That's why there's a good atmosphere around the team; they're not in last place anymore!

Charles Leclerc explained that in terms of his own season, he simply wasn't good enough in the first few races. However, things started to pick up from Baku onwards.

"In the first race, for example, I just did not ride very well and the overall performance was worse," said the Monegasque rookie.

"From Baku, we mainly saw the progress of the vehicle.

"Our progress so far is really big.

"That's a positive sign and it motivates the team a lot."

Leclerc has been nothing short of sensational this season, with the rookie regularly finishing in the points as well as brutally out-qualifying Ericsson. Leclerc even made it into Q3 in qualifying on several occasions, beating the likes of Haas and Force India to the punch.