Marcus Ericsson spent a few laps inside the points on Sunday, mainly due to the timing of the safety car and the decision not to make a pit stop, but once the race resumed he found himself shuffled down the pack at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The Sauber F1 Team driver ultimately saw his race come to an end due to a gearbox failure, but by then he had fallen out of contention for a points finish, having made his pit stop for the Supersoft Pirelli tyre, ending another weekend of disappointment for the Swede.
Ericsson has now retired from two of the three races so far this season, but despite this he felt the pace on the Supersoft tyre felt good for him before his untimely departure from the race.
“It was a disappointing race,” said Ericsson. “The start was good, I was the only driver on soft tyres, but I was able to follow the queue quite well.
“The safety car phase came at a bad time for us, so we decided to stay out. At the re-start I was in P8, however, the other cars on fresh tyres were able to overtake me.
“After boxing for the Supersoft tyres, the lap times were looking good, but I was too far off to catch up with the cars in front of me. In the end, I had a gearbox failure, which forced me to stop the car on track.”
