Sauber F1 Team‘s Marcus Ericsson finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in seventeenth position, commenting that he struggled with the balance of the car in the first stint of the race.
After making a decent start, Ericsson made a mistake and ran wide, costing him time and setting the scene for what would be a difficult start to the race. He felt that he improved in his second stint, and managed to close the gap to the group of cars in front of him.
“It was a difficult race,” he commented.
“I had a good start, but on the first corner I ran wide and lost some time there. I was then struggling on the first stint; I couldn’t really keep the pace.
After the pit stop, the balance of the car felt better so I was able to push again. In the second half of the race I could close the gap to the cars in front of me, but generally, it is difficult to overtake on this track.”
Team principal Frederic Vasseur thought that the race had been ‘decent’ for the team, especially for Pascal Wehrlein, who had a good battle with Kevin Magnussen and finished fourteenth. He echoed that Ericsson was struggling with the car, but praised the overall improvement of the team over the last few races of the season.
“It was a decent race today – Pascal advanced well and was competing with Kevin (Magnussen) ahead. He did a good job in overtaking, but then he lost him on the straights.
Marcus’ race was ok, but he seemed to be struggling with the balance of the car. Overall, we can see that we have made some improvements in the last few races. We are now focusing on 2018 and building on the progress we have made.”
