Recently hired Sauber team boss Fred Vasseur named current Formula 2 championship leader Charles Leclerc when claiming it "makes sense" for the Swiss team to offer a seat to a young driver.

In a busy few months for Sauber, Vasseur, formerly of Renault, replaced long-time boss Monisha Kaltenborn following a disagreement with owners and immediately confirmed a pre-announced switch to Honda engines for 2018 had been cancelled and a new deal with Ferrari, with whom they have been partners for 20 years, has been agreed.

With that new deal in place, President Sergio Marchionne recently suggested he would like to see the Hinwil-based outfit become a sort of junior team for the Scuderia with both Leclerc and current third driver Antonio Giovinazzi waiting for their chance.

"As a team, it would make sense to have someone like Leclerc or other young drivers," Vasseur told Autosport.

It is largely thought one seat will be available with Pascal Wehrlein set to lose out and Marcus Ericsson likely to be retained due to his associations with the owners.

It will be some time yet before a final driver decision is made, with both parties taking it one step at a time.

"It is a bit too early to speak about drivers, to be honest," Vasseur claimed. "We had to close the [engine] deal quite quickly. It would be a mistake to mix the drivers into the discussion.

"But we will have the discussion in the next few weeks."

When asked if there was a deadline for a decision, the Frenchman revealed September would be ideal but admitted it would be "difficult to do it".

Both Leclerc and Giovinazzi recently drove for Ferrari, the Monegasque completing an impressive day on Tuesday in Hungary before flying to Barcelona to join the Italian for a second test day this time completing a Pirelli 2018 tyre test.