Marcus Ericsson will start the Canadian Grand Prix from nineteenth on the grid after hitting the wall during Qualifying on Saturday afternoon around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team racer was looking to join team-mate Charles Leclerc in the second phase of the session but hit the wall on the exit of the turn eight/nine chicane, breaking the right front suspension in the process that ended his session.
Ericsson admits he has been struggling on Saturday afternoons so far in 2018 but it was particularly disappointing to be eliminated in Q1 after the mistake cost him badly.
“After a promising Friday, today was more difficult for me,” said Ericsson. “In FP3 I was not as comfortable with the balance of the car.
“We did some work in preparation for the qualifying session. Initially I felt better – unfortunately, I was pushing a bit too much and touched the wall, damaging the front right. I couldn’t rejoin the session and it was disappointing for me as the potential was there.
“At the moment, I am struggling a bit to put everything together in qualifying.”
Ericsson hopes for better luck on Sunday as he feels the race pace of the C37-Ferrari is much stronger than it is in Qualifying trim.
“Regarding the race, as we showed in the last weekends, we have the pace so we need to remain focused and fight back,” said the Swede.
