Marcus Ericsson is optimistic about the future of Sauber

As a prelude to the Belgian Grand Prix, we met Marcus Ericsson. For the young Swede, the summer started well with the announcement of his extension for next year: « It’s a very good thing that it was announced so early. It shows the team’s confidence in me and above all, it allows us to look further ahead. »

Indeed, the fact that the team is keeping both of its drivers for next year means it will be able to push the development of its car with complete transparency with them, which can only improve the final result: « If we weren’t sure of staying, the engineers wouldn’t show us everything, which is normal, since there would be the risk of using it in another team. Now we can clearly give indications for the future. »

He therefore arrived in Belgium fully rested from a vacation spent between Sweden and Croatia and with maximum confidence, as Sauber’s development program looks promising. Thus this weekend, the team will benefit from the new version of the Ferrari engine while new chassis improvements will be introduced in Singapore.

The Swiss team thus hopes to regain the level of competitiveness from the start of the season, where both Hinwil drivers scored points in Australia: « It was great to score our first points. But then we maintained our level while others made significant progress. As Sahara Force India has already brought a major improvement to Silverstone, I think we can return to this early season level. The goal is clearly to fight for points in every race again. »

If the Swede is completing his second year in F1, he nonetheless feels like it’s another rookie year for him, since the competitiveness level of his car has nothing to do with his Caterham from last year: « Last year, basically, it didn’t matter if I had a great Grand Prix or if I was a bit less good since we finished more or less in the same place. But this year, it’s so tight in the midfield that it makes a big difference. So I’m back in the pack battle. On a circuit like Spa, it should be an amazing feeling. »

Marcus Ericsson is thus among the drivers who appreciate traditional circuits, where mistakes cost more than on the new sanitized tracks: “We saw it clearly in Budapest. If Lewis had made his mistake in Bahrain, he would have gone onto asphalt and would have continued without issue and without losing time. We must pay the price for our mistakes.”

Thus, he positions himself in the wake of what Fernando Alonso said about the starting system level, introduced here: “It’s not going to change much because that’s what I was doing in GP2. So maybe it will make a difference for those who have been in F1 for 15 years but, for me, it’s just going to be a return to what I knew.”

The GP2 also served as a very good school for him now because he can apply what he learned there: « From a driving perspective, it’s very close between GP2 and F1, especially with the Pirelli tires. Also, from an engine perspective, the manufacturers have made significant progress compared to last year. In 2014, you really had to be careful with the arrival of the electric torque. But now, it’s much smoother. There’s no longer that jolt that we used to have. »

On the other hand, the main difference he noted is the number of people he has to deal with over the weekend: « In GP2, it’s easy, you have one person. Here there are ten different people, each taking care of a different part of the car. So it’s much more complex. »

Now all he has to do is focus on the weekend, particularly with the legendary Eau Rouge corner: « It’s the kind of corner where you really have to commit because you can’t see anything on the exit and the car moves a lot. Moreover, this year, they’ve added extra curbs. So, you have to be even more precise in driving. »

From our special correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps