Sauber drivers keen to get started in Sochi

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Sauber drivers Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein both say they are excited to get to Sochi this weekend for the Russian Grand Prix.

The team is still looking for its first points of 2017. While there are no promises they can achieve that on Sunday, both drivers are aiming to have some fun here.

"The Russian Grand Prix is always an interesting race. I like racing there," said Ericsson. "The track itself is fun to drive.

"The last sector is the most challenging and lap time sensitive as it is quite technical," adding that the track looked visually impressive.

"All in all, I am looking forward to the Russian Grand Prix. I hope that the Russian Formula 1 fans enjoy the race – we will do our best to put in a good show for a great race weekend."

Ericsson has finished only one of the three races so far this season. He was in 15th place in China but retired in Australia and Bahrain, and hopes for better luck this weekend.

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"The Russian Grand Prix is a nice race weekend," contributed Wehrlein, who has some experience racing in the country in the past.

"I do have some Russian fans, because I was racing in Moscow for the DTM. They are really great. I got some nice drawings and Russian Matryoshka dolls.

"[Sochi] itself is nice, I enjoy racing there," he continued. "It is not an easy one, as some corners are quite technical.

With this year’s cars, I assume that some corners will be very quick to drive through. There are also some 90 degrees corners, which are challenging.

"Overall I am looking forward to racing at Sochi again."

Wehrlein missed the first two Grand Prix races of 2017 recovering from a serious back injury. He returned to duty in Bahrain and narrowly missed out on a points finish, ultimately crossing the line in 11th place.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.