Williams tops Ericsson wish list amid 2017 talks

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Marcus Ericsson says he is talking with most teams with vacant seats for 2017, and admits Williams tops his wish list as he targets a more competitive car.

The Swede has been at Sauber for the past two seasons but the team has yet to score a point this year and currently sits bottom of the constructors’ championship, one point behind Manor.

When asked for the latest update regarding his future Ericsson, who is out of contract at the end of the year, replied: “Nothing decided yet, but hopefully soon I will know what will happen.

“Aim number one is to stay in F1 and in the best possible car.

“We’re speaking to some different teams, including Sauber, but there’s not that many seats left so let’s see in the coming weeks.”

Asked directly if he’s spoken to Williams, Renault and Force India, Ericsson replied “yes” to all three, while also saying talks have taken place with Manor as he wants to know the future plans of every team on the grid.

“We’ve been speaking a bit with them [Manor]. They were there as well, basically it’s all the teams that’s left. Obviously it’s not myself but my management, and I think it’s important to keep communication with all the teams and see what’s happening.

“Now I’m going into my fourth season next year, so I’m really eager to be in a car where I can be a bit more competitive and show what I can do. I feel like I’ve taken steps all the time as a driver and perform on a better level but I haven’t had the chance to really show it yet. So I’m really, really eager to be in a package where I can really fight for points on a regular basis.”

When it was put to Ericsson that based on his desire to have the best available package, Williams would be the ideal team with a vacancy at present, he simply replied: “Yeah…”

Ericsson is still more likely to stay at Sauber following the team’s takeover by Longbow Finance, with Force India’s pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez expected to remain in place and Valtteri Bottas poised to stay at Williams. With Felipe Massa retiring, Lance Stroll has emerged as the favourite for the seat alongside Bottas.

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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.