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definitely been my strongest - Ericsson on his 2018 season

"definitely been my strongest" - Ericsson on his 2018 season

18-12-2018 12:11 Last update: 12:49
15

Bevan Youl

Marcus Ericsson has said that he feels he is leaving Formula 1 after his strongest year on the grid.

Ericsson has made the switch to IndyCar for 2019 after five full seasons, with Sauber changing their driver line-up to include Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovanazzi.

Despite the swede’s departure he still feel had "definitely been my strongest", finishing 17th overall in the championship.

"It's the race pace that has been very strong this year, I've had some really strong races," (autosport.com).

"Qualifying has been the problem, I've been too far back compared to Charles and that's made it difficult to keep up with his points tally."

"On tyre management I'm one of the strongest out there at the moment in Formula 1. That's been my biggest strength this year."

Ericsson collected a total of nine points across the season, matching his best haul from 2015, putting him ahead of Lance Stroll, Brendon Hartley and Sergey Sirotkin in the standings.

Sauber started the year towards the back of the grid alongside Williams but benefitted from improving throughout the year, challenging the top ten in qualifying and in-race and giving Ericsson the opportunity to start sixth on the grid in Brazil.

"The whole year has been my best in Formula 1, especially the improvement from start of the season to now," said Ericsson.

"In Melbourne we started at the bottom with Williams pretty much, and then we've been improving very impressively from then on and I feel very much a part of that.”

Sauber team boss Frederic Vasseur of Ericsson form in the last part of the season “he is consistently in the same lap time like Charles - in front of Charles in Sao Paolo, just behind him in Austin.”

"It was very helpful for Charles also to have someone as a reference like Marcus.”