Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson has expressed his delight at his performance in the Bahrain Grand Prix considering the current performance of his car. The Swede improved from 17th on the grid to finish 12th in the race with a two-stop strategy.
“The race was fun with a lot of fights,” Ericsson said. “The start was a bit unfortunate. I had a lack of power during the first lap, so I dropped down some positions. Therefore, I was stuck behind some competitors. Once I got by them, I had quite a strong race.”
The 25-year-old driver was in the points at one stage, but fell behind Renault’s Kevin Magnussen before holding off Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein to make sure the team stayed ahead of Manor in 10th in the Constructors’ Championship.
“Unfortunately, during the last stint, when I was running in the points, we had to save fuel. It was really difficult to defend my position. Overall, it’s been a decent weekend on which we maximised our current package. Now we need to push hard to get our car more competitive.”
Ericsson lies 16th in the drivers’ championship after the second race of the season.
