Sauber confirm Giovinazzi to partner Raikkonen in 2019

Well, in all fairness Marcus was one of the last drivers on the grid that didn't deserve his seat. He really should have lost it years ago. He look dreadful next to Felipe Nasr in 2015, 2016 and yet Nasr is the one that lost his drive eventually. Wherlein also obliterated him on stats, just not as pointedly (although it was 5pts to 0). It was also Wherlein who lost his drive. If anything, I think that Ericsson is potentially one of the worst case of a pay driver who doesn't perform and get picked over other very talented drivers. I'm still mad about Nasr losing his seat in spite of that heroic performance in Brazil get the only points for Sauber that year.

Sorry but Ericsson was one of the biggest paydrivers in F1 history, totally out performed by every teammate. Anyway i have short story for better mood for you my friends from Sweden..

It was few days after Singapore GP.
The sky was dark and cloudy,
The moon was high.
It could be about 10 p.m. o'colck...
but I don't remember exectly.
I was with my wife and children,
we returned home after long journey..
Beeing in departure hall and waiting for the flight home,
i saw a familiar person sittin alone in the corner...
It was my friend Marcus !
Man.. he looks bad :/ so i decided to approach him.
I asked politely: Marcus what wrong with you ??
He said with sad eyes: They want to throw me out, cuz they say I'm not fast enough..
I wanted to cheer him up, so i said: Listen Marcus not all have the skills to drive in f1.. like Kubica..
They also get rid of Maldonado and he was able to accept it.
Marcus: But I paid them, I paid them for all the seasons..
I paid them for all the cars i f*cking crashed, what they still want from me !?
I said: You know Marcus, there are things in this world that you cannot
buy with your money..
Marcus: What do you mean ?!
I said: Money isn't evrything, my friend...
He's face just freeze and filled with anger.
He just started throwing shit at me:
You're wrong..
You're F*UCKING WRONG !!
Leave me alone !
for fuck's sake !

I was confused :/
i decided to leave him.

based on the novel:
"The Curious Case of Marcus Ericsson"

@AJ, I wouldn't say that Ericsson looked dreadful next to Nasr, the first half of the 2015 season Nasr outperformed him and that was when the car was good enough for points, but Ericsson turned it around in 2015 eventually outqualifying Nasr 10-9. In 2016 Ericsson outqualified Nasr 13-8, sure Nasr scored 2 points but that was due to alot of DNF's. Also Ericsson was very closely matched to Wehrlein, they were the two closest teammates on the grid with an average time diff in quali at 0,049 sec, add to that the fact that Ericsson had a weight disadvantage of 4-10kg depending on race then that stat really shows that Ericsson had likely been faster if they were the same weight. Again Ericsson failed to score and Wehrlein did, but one time it was because Ericsson gave up his position and the other it was because of alot of DNF's, i.e. Wehrlein did not score on his own merit. This year I would say is the first year Ericsson is really outperformed, and that is by a guy who gets a Ferrari seat after only one year in the sport which is practically unheard of.

@Kean The qualy stats are interesting for discussion, but in the end points are scored on Sunday. Vandoorne is also pretty close to Alonso timewise... The weight excuse I don't accept. Nico Hulkenberg has done alright in an underpowered Renault. Every driver can have a bad season, but Ericsson has never put performed a teammate. He has never scored more than 50% of total points. There are no memorable moments, overtakes, races. Even Maldonado had some pretty good highlights. I mean no disrespect to the Swedish people, but Ericsson represented everything wrong with pay drivers in F1. It took a cash infusion from Ferrari to boot him out.

Yes, points are scored on Sunday. However for any bottom team, that perhaps will score points in 10-20% of the races and those points will come not on the teams own merit but due to other teams dnf’s, luck with safetycars or rain, you have to start looking at more than points when assessing drivers. You have to start looking at quali results, inter team battles, time differences and other things such as the drivers ability to help develop the car. Wehrlein wouldn’t have scored in Spain had he not gotten lucky with the safety car. So if you’re only looking at points scored regarding bottom teams you’re basically assessing drivers by luck. In 2016 Ericsson outperformed Nasr over the season, except in the race where outer circumstances allowed them to be high enough to score points. The top 4-5 teams, however, there you can rely on points more accurately when assessing drivers since they should be able to score in every race. And of course weight is a factor when assessing a drivers ability, Hulkenberg manages good quali results in spite of his weight disadvantage, it only speaks to his quality. If you’re assessing drivers, knowing that minimum weight will be raised next year, then of course you will take weight into account. Also, everybody knocks pay drivers, but had it not been for Ericsson’s backers there would be no Sauber team. Had it not been for Stroll or Maldonado or Sirotkin there would be no Willams team. If you want to see a grid with drivers picked solely on talent, then complain about the distribution of revenue instead of pay drivers.

Marcus will be their third driver

I'd much rather have a Kimi than a Lance

Kids in cars.

I agree that there are quality drivers without a seat next year, but I don t rate Ericsson as one of them...

Kimi is a better racer than 1. Stroll 2. Ericsson 3. Sirotkin 4. Hartley 5. Vandoorne. Might even dare say, he is as good if not better than Hulk, Perez, KMag, Romain, Ocon, Gasly. So, how about leaving the hiring to the teams, who might( or should) know better.

- where do you go after F1? Simple, Formula E

Oh yes. This is juicy stuff!

Honestly, aside from media reporting on it more, I didnt really notice it. The few people I know in person that watch it dont really cheer for him. Its a pity that he had to go, but it was time.

It's gonna be really interesting to see next year how Sauber will perform.... Perhaps Marcus has to jump into the car suddenly