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In an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet yesterday, Marcus Ericsson’s manager Eje Elgh has confirmed that they are in talks with three teams about a race seat for 2015.
Ericsson is facing an uncertain Formula 1 future after Caterham went into administration last week. Although the team could still return to the grid for the season finale in Abu Dhabi, it remains to be seen if they will be back in 2015.
Ericsson, who says he is “keeping his spirits high” despite the “turbulent times”, hasn’t done too badly in recent races as he finished 15th, 17th and 19th while in Russia he qualified a career-best 16th.
In his interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet yesterday, Elgh believes it puts his client in a good position, but admits it could take a while before negotiations are finalised. Elgh stated the following:-
‘His last three races have been very good, two of the qualifiers too. The races have changed his status I can’t say when something will be done for the next year. Sometimes being 99.9 percent sure is not really more secure than when you are 80 percent sure. It will take some time to get it done.’
As Elgh states his interview yesterday, Ericsson’s last three races and two qualifying performances have shown improvement and you could say that he has delivered when it matters most on the track in regards to the changing driver market. It is clear that Elgh is working on trying to get Ericsson a seat for 2015 and believes that it will take a sufficient amount of time for a deal to be put together and rightly so even if his performances have helped him get into talks with the three teams interested in giving him a drive for next season.
Further on in his interview yesterday, it would appear that Elgh and Ericsson have initially held talks with four different teams, but with Caterham dropping off it means a lot more drivers a vying for limited race seats. When asked about the subject at hand, Elgh added the following:-
‘The only thing it means is that there will be greater competition for places. We had a list of four teams, but Caterham stood at the bottom of the list.’
Overall, Ericsson’s manager sums it up for me. It is clear that he would have contacted the four teams he believed that his client had a chance of securing a race drive for next season, but he knows that there is greater competition for places in Formula One and as a result, Ericsson could miss out on the driver market which is rapidly changing. And it has now whittled down to three teams that are potentially interested in signing Ericsson for next season.
With the situation at Caterham still unresolved, all Elgh can do is try and secure a race seat for Ericsson in 2015 with one of the three teams they are talking to if they can. If he can’t secure a race drive for him, then maybe the next possible option would be is to secure him a third driver role in a team such as Sauber that would benefit greatly from his experience with Caterham this season and would help him develop further as a driver.
And for me that wouldn’t be a bad move for Ericsson. As much as this would be disappointing for him, it might be the only way to stay in Formula One and keep himself in the running for a drive in the near future.
But all we can do is just to see what happens in the driver market and if any of the three teams interested decide to sign him up for 2015 and see if Ericsson fits into it either as a driver for 2015 or even as a test driver.
