Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsSauber

Sauber now my best option - Ericsson

Marcus Ericsson says Sauber is now his best option for 2017 as the driver market has remained relatively stable over recent weeks.

The Swede is in his second season at Sauber and confirmed in Singapore he has been in talks with a number of teams over potential vacancies for next season. However, with Sergio Perez staying at Force India and Lance Stroll expected to replace Felipe Massa at Williams, Ericsson believes the best seat available for next season is the one he currently occupies.

After an encouraging race in Malaysia, when asked if the progress at Sauber makes the team a more attractive option for next year, Ericsson told F1i: "Of course, yeah.

"I’ve been here for one and a half years now. We started off strong one and a half years ago but we’ve been standing still for the most part since then because of the financial problems there have been in the team. Now finally the team is growing up again. The atmosphere in the team is completely different compared to a couple of months ago so it’s definitely a lot more attractive now than two months ago.”

Asked if Sauber is his most likely destination, Ericsson confirmed: “Yeah, looking at the market it’s likely that this is my best option at the moment.

"But until anything is signed you never know, but I think performances like I did in Malaysia is helping my case as well of course to get the chance to stay.”

Acknowledging the team has to want to retain him, Ericsson added: “I think it’s a combination, of course, but like I said if I do more weekends like Malaysia I think I have a good chance of staying.”

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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.