Motorsport: Sauber would have earned world championship point
At the Mexican GP, the Sauber team showed its best performance of the season so far with Marcus Ericsson. Eleventh place gives encouragement that a redemptive points finish could still be on the cards in 2016. Further progress with the Sauber C35-Ferrari was evident in qualifying, where Marcus Ericsson managed 13th place in the first segment to advance to the [...]
Further progress with the Sauber C35-Ferrari was evident in qualifying, where Marcus Ericsson managed 13th place in the first segment to advance to Q2, which he finished 15th. "We knew it wouldn't be easy to get into Q2 here because the lap times are close together," the Swede said, expressing satisfaction with his performance. Meanwhile, Felipe Nasr struggled with the grip of his car, which was only enough for 19th place on the grid.
Already in the first combination of corners after the start, Ericsson's hopes for a good placing seemed to be dashed when he flew out together with Pascal Wehrlein. While the German, who was hit by Haas driver Gutierrez, had to retire with a damaged Manor-Mercedes, the Swiss car was able to continue the race after a pit stop during the safety car period. Ericsson achieved the optimum with an unexpected eleventh place. Unfortunately, he was unable to benefit from any retirements by the big players who had started ahead of him, with Mercedes (one-two finish by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg), Red Bull, Ferrari, Force India and Williams all bringing both cars to the finish. On the other hand, a Sauber left both McLaren-Honda, Renault, Toro Rosso and Haas-Ferrari behind. A world championship point - at whose expense - would therefore have been more than deserved.
Steps in the right direction
"After I felt a knock, I thought the race was over. In the pits I got a new front wing, and the data also showed that the car's underbody was damaged. Despite this, I found my rhythm again and managed quite good lap times. As a team, we can take a lot of positive things from this race weekend. Once again, we managed to take steps in the right direction," says Marcus Ericsson, analyzing his good race.
"We can be very satisfied with our performance. Our upward trend is confirmed," commented team boss Monisha Kaltenborn. "With such a performance in difficult conditions, we would have deserved to win the point. Felipe also met the targets in 16th place on medium tires. We're going into the remaining two races of the season with great confidence." These take place on November 13 in Sao Paulo (BR) and on November 27 in Abu Dhabi.
www.sauberf1team.com
Photos: Archive
