Marcus Ericsson says his form so far this season is showing who is the stronger driver at Sauber at present.
Felipe Nasr grabbed the headlines with an impressive fifth place on debut last season and outscored Ericsson by 27 points to nine in their first year as team-mates. This season, however, Ericsson has outqualified Nasr at each race and finished ahead in the two races both cars have finished. Nasr attributes the results to a problem with his chassis and says he would like to try Ericsson’s car to understand the handling differences, an idea the Swede is not too keen on.
“I wouldn’t be happy because we don’t see any problems on the data at all or on the car physically,” Ericsson said. “So I don’t want to say much more than that. It’s very simple…”
And asked how he feels his own form has been compared to Nasr, Ericsson replied: “I think it’s been very good.
“I think at the end of last year I was the strongest and I’ve been working hard over the winter to be even stronger this year and I feel confident in the team and with the car. I think I’ve shown it very clearly this season so far who is the strongest so I just need to keep doing my job, keep working hard with the engineers and keep beating him.”
With Sauber reaching Q2 with both cars in China, Ericsson is confident the last race was a sign of the progress the team is making with the C35.
“We’re constantly making small improvements with the set-up. We obviously haven’t had any new developments on the car but you’re understanding the car a bit more and finding some new directions. Nothing major but small steps and also when it’s going well you get confidence in the driving as well and it feels like we’re going in the right direction, definitely.”
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