Marcus Ericsson secured his second consecutive tenth place finish of the season at Spa-Francorchamps, but admitted he was lucky to do so, especially with Sebastian Vettel dropping out of a podium finish on the penultimate lap due to his tyre failure.
The Sauber F1 Team driver made a good start, but his early running was compromised by debris stuck on his car, and lost ground to those in front of him, and felt even with the debris removed that he was not as strong as he had hoped to be.
“First of all, I had a good start, managing to pass Daniil [Kyvat] with a good move into Turn 5,” said Ericsson.
“Quite early in the race we realised I had some debris stuck to the floor, which made us loose downforce in the first stint. We could not keep up with the competition, so we lost some ground, which was a bit frustrating.
“For the second stint we cleared the debris away and I was able to start to push more. Even with that, the pace was not as strong as we expected.
“We were a bit lucky in the end, and we were able to score one point. For me it is great to be back in the points for the second race in a row.”
Team-mate Felipe Nasr was less fortunate, finishing eleventh, and felt his race was compromised throughout by issues with his brakes as well as a sluggish start. Despite this, he remains confident that his race in Italy in two weeks time will be better for the Brazilian.
“It was a tough race for me,” reflected Nasr. “At the start I struggled with a lot of wheel spin, losing some positions.
“My race was compromised by braking issues. Besides that, I also got a slow puncture on the front left tyre during my last stint.
“There were many issues for me this time, but I am confident the upcoming race weekend in Monza will be better.”
