Marcus Ericsson was left disappointed with his 16th place in Brazil, after a collision with Pastor Maldonado left the Swedish driver needing to pit and lose up to 40 seconds on his competitors.
Ericsson, who was ahead of Maldonado going into the first turn on lap 37, ended up being spun around by Maldonado, after the Lotus driver attempted to overtake on the inside of the Sauber, but he could only plant the front-right of his car into the back of the Sauber which forced Ericsson to pit although the damage was not substantial.
After the race, Ericsson said: “I think it was probably the worst start of my F1 career, as I had a lot of wheel spin and then almost dropped down to last. Despite this, the pace was good and I was making some nice moves, working my way up the field and catching the guys in front of me.”
“Then, unfortunately, Pastor (Maldonado) made a move on me into turn 1. It was just too late, he hit the back of my car, spun me around and we had to pit to check for damage.”
“I lost around 30 to 40 seconds and, obviously, the race was then compromised. Despite this, I had a good pace, but we just lost too much time with what happened. Overall it was a disappointing day, but the pace was promising.”
