Lack of power hurts Ericsson charge

Marcus Ericsson believes any chance of scoring points in the Bahrain Grand Prix was hampered by a lack of power early in the race.

Sauber looked uncompetitive during qualifying as both cars dropped out in Q1 behind Pascal Wehrlein's Manor, but Ericsson produced a strong drive to 12th place. However, on the opening lap Ericsson lost positions and finished the lap in 17th place despite retirements and collisions, with the Swede reporting a loss of power early on.

“The race was fun with a lot of fights," Ericsson said. "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."

While Ericsson also felt he missed out on scoring points because of some late fuel saving, he feels 12th place represented the best result Sauber could achieve in Bahrain.

"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.”