Marcus Ericsson described his Mexican Grand Prix performance as one of his finest in Formula 1 after finishing in ninth place, marking the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team‘s first double-points scoring finish since Austria.
Ericsson backed up team-mate Charles Leclerc‘s seventh place finish with ninth at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to help Sauber move ahead of Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda into eighth in the Constructors’ Championship. Additionally, both Leclerc and Ericsson made it into Qualifying 3 – the proof of Sauber’s solid pace all weekend.
“It is a great result for the team today – getting both cars into the points is a great effort which has allowed us to advance by a position in the Constructors’ Championship,” said Ericsson.
Ericsson was one of multiple drivers in the lower regions of the points paying positions to execute a one-stop strategy, starting on the hyper-soft compound before managing to make the super-soft tyres last a commendable 53 laps. The Swede said that he had to “fight hard” in order to manage the tyre wear that caused problems for all drivers this weekend, adding to his satisfaction with the result.
“I am very proud of my race and think that it was one of my best performances in Formula One,” he added.
“I had to fight hard to manage my tyres, I had to recover many positions after the pitstop and I didn’t make any mistakes, so I am satisfied with my result.”
This morning, it was announced that Ericsson has secured a seat in the Verizon IndyCar Series for 2019 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to complement his duties as Sauber’s third driver, after losing his race seat to Scuderia Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi.
