Ericsson: "Sauber can challenge Renault and Force India at some Grands Prix"
- Published on 10 Feb 2018 11:52
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Marcus Ericsson believes that Haas and Toro Rosso will be Sauber's main competitors in 2018, but thinks that Renault and Force India will feel a challenge at certain Grands Prix. Sauber's 2017 season saw them compete at the back of the field, equipped with a year-old Ferrari power unit.
While originally, the Hinwil squad was due to run with Honda in 2018, Frederic Vasseur cancelled the deal after becoming team principal, and signed a multi-year contract with Ferrari to run up to date engines. For the upcoming season, Ericsson believes that Sauber will make gains and be somewhat competitive with other teams.
"We're up against Haas and Toro Rosso," he told Autosport. "I think next season will be very unpredictable in some races. It could go very well and at points we could also challenge Renault and Force India. But there will be other races where there will be problems and we will be further down.
"The goal is simply to get into the group of teams that are in the midfield – but it is clear that there will be a very open battle Grand Prix after Grand Prix. I want to be in the best shape possible to find the satisfaction that was missing in 2017."
The 2018 season will be Ericsson's fifth in Formula 1, his fourth with Sauber. He will be joined by Monegasque racer Charles Leclerc who graduates from Formula 2, a series he won convincingly in 2017 with Prema.
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Replies (12)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Sauber? Against Force India and Renault? Likely not. I expect Renault to challenge Force India, followed by McLaren vs Williams. After that I think it will be Toro Rosso vs Haas vs Sauber. How that will play out will depend on if Haas sort out their brake issues and general chassis quality, how much Sauber can improve as a whole, and how good the Honda unit and the TR drivers are. But who knows? It looks like this will be an interesting year.
Kean
Posts: 692
Nothing wrong with Ericsson's optimism, and in that spirit I will challenge your sound prediction, with a wishful thinking one of my own. The top will consist of four teams: Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Where Red Bull and McLaren perform better on low speed circuits, and vice versa. Behind them we'll find a tight battle between Force India and Renault, where Renault outdevelops Force India in the end. Behind them we'll find a tight battle between Williams, Sauber, Haas and Toro Rosso which ultimately finishes with those teams ending up in that order.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
You could very well be correct. I mean we dont really know how it'll play out yet. My reasoning for McLaren vs Williams is this: McLaren will be using (to them unfamiliar) customer Renault units, a new gearbox and a cooling system supplied by Renault. This will very likely limit what they can do, especially since they wont be able to use all the modes Renault can. Furthermore, McLaren lack one thing that Red Bull has with even their less excellent chassis designs over the years: adaptability. Last year Red Bull excelled both on tracks with plenty of slow corners as well as tracks with long straights, even when using low power modes. McLaren meanwhile were just good at the former. And works Renault will be able to utilize their unit to its full extent. This is why I rate Red Bull, and likely Renault, over McLaren. As for Force India: they've just been so consistent, and unlike Williams they havent hesitated in using the money they get to improve their cars. Couple that with two very competent drivers, and I just dont see them dropping any time yet.
Kean
Posts: 692
@Calle, you're likely right. And we can count on one thing, my wish will not come true. It never does. I wish for McLaren to do well, and I wish for Alonso to do well and even win a race or two. Also I wish for Sauber and Ericsson to do well. Therefor you can bet that it won't happen....
Logically, taking into account where the cars were last year and driver pairing I think the pecking order will be:
Mercedes
Ferrari and Red Bull
Renault, Force India and McLaren
Williams
Haas
Sauber and Toro Rosso
I think Alonso will produce some stunning races with a car that is likely slightly below Renault and Force India. I also believe that Paddy Lowe will have produced a pretty good car, not far off that of Renault, Force India and McLaren. However, I have very little faith in Stroll and believe that Sirotkin will provide the majority of the points haul. Sauber will likely start the season better than Toro Rosso, with Leclerc pulling off some headline grabbing races, but Toro Rosso-Honda will catch them mid season. Haas will stay ahead of the bottom two, with Grosjean performing his usual hit and miss races, however sometimes when he hits we'll see him grab some decent points.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
We'll have to see. I'd love for a good Honda season, and it'd be cool if Ericsson managed to beat Leclerc, and honestly I want McLaren to beat Renault. And I would love it if we'd have a three way fight on top. We can only hope that Mercedes' unability to burn oil and their new attempts to reduce PU dimensions will hurt them slightly, but knowing its Mercedes we are talking about that doesnt seem likely.
Jutlandia
Posts: 191
Slightly optimistic i would say.
Barron
Posts: 625
I think this sums up exactly what’s wrong with modern F1. Why not the front of the field? Where’s the reality? The reality is that F1 is so structured now, everyone knows their place. That’s Godawful..?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
To a certain extent, yes. But then we have Force India. Now Im not the world's biggest FI fan, but I have loads of respect for what they are doing on track right now.
Pauli
Posts: 140
Structured? Performance difference used to be even bigger than today. Only difference was that reliability was much worse when points system favored winning GPs instead of finishing them near the top. Unreliable lead cars made it look like there was much more equal chances to win but truth was that midfield had no chance to match performance of leading teams back them either.
Hepp
Posts: 200
I love all of these predictions, and agree with most of them, BUT, there is also the ?-factors.
...Mother nature and Perelli ... Ironic that the teams seem to adjust better to the weather and not so much to the rubber.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yup, and then we have the uncertain factor of how well the different teams has managed to balance the cars with the halo.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
How is Ericsson still in F1? Wherlein, Vergne, Buemi, Norris on the sidelines. Smh