Although the team may not have the fastest car on the grid, that didn’t stop Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson from having some fun in the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit. He enjoyed battling with the teams, despite a poor start.
Marcus Ericsson started on the 17th grid position, with Felipe Nasr starting in 21st. They were on either side of the empty grid position where Jolyon Palmer would have started the race. The team was slow off of the line, but they managed to avoid the first lap nightmares that other teams suffered from. Throughout the race, Sauber was involved in many entertaining battles, including a brief battle between the teammates.
Marcus Ericsson found the race entertaining:
“The race was fun with a lot of fights. The start was a bit unfortunate. I had a lack of power during the first lap, so I dropped down some positions.Therefore, I was then stuck behind some competitors. Once I got by them, I had quite a strong race. Unfortunately, during the last stint, when I was running in the points, we had to save fuel. It was really difficult to defend my position. Overall, it’s been a decent weekend on which we maximised our current package. Now we need to push hard to get our car more competitive.”
Ericsson finished in 12th position, just outside of the points scoring positions. Felipe Nasr finished in P14, with the Manor of Pascal Wehrlein separating him from his teammate. The team’s pace has improved from their pace in other sessions earlier in the weekend.
Nasr was not as happy as his teammate, although he was able to look at the positive side of things, saying, “Starting from the back of the field, it is positive that I was able to move up some positions.” On a little bit of a negative note, he feels that he couldn’t have finished any higher up because he struggled with cars. He stressed the importance of improving the car, saying, “We have to analyse every detail in order to improve for the upcoming race.”
Weekend Summary: 2016 Bahrain Grand Prix
Nasr: “I am still not satisfied with the handling”
