It seems that the Kimi Raikkonen to Sauber rumours will just not go away at the moment, and team boss Fred Vasseur’s latest comments will only add more fuel to the fire.

It certainly appears there may well be a seat available in the team backed by a Ferrari engine next season, as current diver Charles Leclerc seems likely to go in the opposite direction and join Ferrari.

The Italian team have been monitoring Leclerc’s performances very closely this season and an impressive set of results has understandably caught the eye of Ferrari bosses.

Ahead of this weekend's German GP, Sauber chief Vasseur was asked about the impact of potentially bringing Raikkonen back the team where it all started for him in F1.

"It is much better to have a world champion than someone who won nothing," he said per Autosport.

"I am just focused on performance. The most important for me is to have the best lineup for next year and the future. That is my only concern."

Vasseur did, however, explain that they won’t select a driver on historical connections alone.

"In the driver selection and choice, it is important to have a common approach and not because I ran with a guy in F3 15 years ago, or he drove for Sauber 10 years ago."

As an alternative to Leclerc, Ferrari could also consider Sauber's other driver, Marcus Ericsson, but Vasseur claims it isn’t merely a case of Ferrari taking whoever they want.

He added: "We will discuss with Ferrari. It is not a matter of rights, but we will discuss together.

"It is not one list for one side and another one."

Sauber has also been mentioned as a potential destination for current Force India ace Sergio Perez.

And Vasseur admitted that the calibre of driver his team are being linked with is a result of the improvement they have shown this year.

It’s hard to know from the outside what influence Ferrari have over the smaller teams that use their engine, but it seems Sauber clearly have their own agenda and a team to watch out for.