Sauber is a good team with a long history in the sport. Although they had their best performance during their years with BWM, they are also earning a lot of points in recent times. Unfortunately, they didn’t score any points this season. They are well loved among fans and very popular in the social media world. For 2015, the team has scratched their lineup and signed two different drivers. Marcus Ericsson will be making the transition from the collapsed Caterham team and Felipe Nasr will be making his Formula One debut after test driving for the Williams team.
Marcus Ericsson made his Formula One debut in 2014 with the Caterham team. With a low quality car and on a team that was running out of money, Ericsson had no success last season. He wasn’t able to score a single point for his team. When the team fell apart and missed the last three races of the season, he was almost immediately signed with Sauber. Being a rookie on a backmarker team, we don’t really know too much about how he can perform in Formula One, but we can tell that he is capable of getting points, based on his performance in the GP2 series.
However, there was one important moment in 2014. When the Caterham team was debating whether they could return for the final race of the season, Ericsson announced that he would not race. Caterham did make it to the race and Ericsson was replaced. This move says something about Ericsson’s character. Will Ericsson stick with a team, even if he won’t accomplish anything or will he just give up. This really outlines his determination. If he is performing poorly in a race, will he just pull the car into the pits and retire from the race?
Felipe Nasr will be joining Ericsson. This has nothing to do with his performance, but it will be very confusing to have a Felipe Massa and a Felipe Nasr. Seeing as their names sound very similar, this could be a bit confusing for fans listening to the broadcasts. That aside, Nasr is performing well in open-wheel racing. He has improved greatly in the GP2 series and is starting to become successful there. He should be able to handle a Formula One car.
Overall, the Sauber lineup isn’t quite as good as it has been in the season past, but it is decent. They should be able to score some points this year, but with the exit of Marussia and Caterham, there are not as many teams that they can compete with, so they will still finish near the bottom of the standings. Many people are looking forward to seeing Nasr make his debut. Hopefully we will see the best performance from both drivers.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
