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Wehrlein was 'perfect benchmark' for Ericsson

Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson believes that spending a full season competing against team mate Pascal Wehrlein in 2017 was the ideal way for him to develop as a driver.

The Swede said that he hadn't been fazed by all the hype surrounding the young Mercedes protégé.

"Pascal is a super-talented driver and it's been really good for me to have him as a team-mate," said Ericsson, who made his Formula 1 début with Caterham alongside Kamui Kobayashi in 2014.

"With all the hype that's been around him being a Mercedes junior it's been perfect for me to have him as a benchmark," he told Autosport.

"If you look at the statistics this year, if you take the average between team-mates, we're the closest ones on the grid. I think that says quite a lot and that's been good for me."

Even so, Wehrlein out-qualified Ericsson on 11 occasions over the course of 18 races together. The German also finished ahead of his more experienced team mate seven times. And Wehrlein clinched all five of Sauber's championship points in 2017.

Sauber development impressive after 'disastrous' summer - Ericsson

"Standing on zero points is obviously a big disappointment," Ericsson admitted. "In the end it's points that count, and obviously I haven't scored any.

"Result-wise, it's been not what I wanted. But there have been some good races."

Nonetheless, Sauber opted to release Wehrlein and retain Ericsson alongside highly-fancied Ferrari junior Charles Leclerc in 2018.

Before the team made its decision, Ericsson admitted that he'd endured "a few nervous weeks" wondering if he would be edged out. His management team was busy looking for alternative race seats on the grid, just in case. However none were forthcoming.

"The problem is when you're driving for a team that's at the back of the grid it's really difficult to impress people and to show what you can do.

"Even if I do a really good weekend it means maybe I qualify ahead of my team-mate," he pointed out.

"I need to be in a car that's regularly in the top ten," he continued. "Then you can show your skills.

"I'm ready for that. I've been working hard for that," he insisted. "That's what I need for the next step."

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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.