Marcus Ericsson drove a strong race for the struggling Sauber F1 Team at the Sochi Autodrom on Sunday, running briefly inside the points on an alternative strategy before ultimately finishing fourteenth.
The Swedish driver admitted to struggling to get his tyres to work around the smooth Sochi circuit, but was satisfied with the result even if it is not where the team want to be.
“It’s been a decent race for me,” reflected Ericsson. “I had a difficult weekend as I have been struggling a lot to get the tyres to work on this special surface here.
“After the long-runs on Friday, we expected the car would behave better on high-fuel, which was the case today.
“For myself I can be satisfied with my race performance. Obviously, the result is not where we want to be. We are struggling with our pace at the moment, but we just need to focus even more to work on our performance.”
Team-mate Felipe Nasr was sixteenth after a slow puncture during his first stint on the Supersoft Pirelli tyre saw him pit earlier than planned, and left his afternoon compromised towards the back of the field.
“I had a good start and was able to gain some positions in the first laps of the race,” said Nasr. “Unfortunately, on my first stint with the supersoft tyres, I had a slow puncture on the left front tyre, which forced me to box on lap 12.
“We changed to the soft tyres on which I made it to the end. This early pit stop surely compromised my race. It is unfortunate, but I can also take some positives from the weekend as I felt comfortable in the car.”
