Tag: marcus ericcson

Hamilton Tops Time Sheets in British GP FP3, Ericsson Crashes

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of a shortened 3rd Free Practice session making it three from three practice sessions.

Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg finished the session 2nd fastest just 0.063s off Hamilton’s time. Hamilton set his best time on the soft compound tyres crossing the line in 1:30.904. Rosberg’s set a best time of 1:30.967.

Building on from their Friday pace, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo set a 1:31.488 to finish 3rd fastest ahead of his team mate Max Verstappen who set a best time of 1:31.561.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel crossed the line in a very disappointed and angry 5th fastest with a 1:32.049. Clearly expecting to be faster Vettel’s gesticulating as he crossed the line showed his frustration. A later radio message that his gearbox had failed shed more light on the issue. He returned to the pits to a visibly upset Ferrari team. Ferrari later confirmed that Vettel would get a new gearbox and incur a 5-place grid drop.

Valtteri Bottas ended his session in 6th fastest for Williams ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso. Nico Hulkenberg finished his session 8th fastest ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in 9th.

Rounding out the top 10 was Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso almost 2 seconds off the pace.

The session was considerably shortened after Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson crashed at the exit of Turn 15 (Stowe). The Swede had a little over-steer moment at the exit of Stowe which sent him a bit wide. His rear left wheel got on to the astro turf laid down just after the concrete apex which caused the rear of the car to step out. Ericsson was sent careening into the adjacent barrier nose first. His car spun and the rear made contact with the barrier ripping off his rear suspension in the process. Ericsson eventually came to a rest just before Turn 16(Vale). On board replays of the crash showed the scale of the impact and it also showed the steering wheel coming off the column.

Big accident at Stowe corner small mistake wow congratulations to F1 and F.I.A safety standards with cars and barriers just amazing .

— Nigel Mansell CBE (@nigelmansell) July 9, 2016

Ericsson got out of the car and waved at the crowd to show that he was OK. He has since been taken to the hospital for a check up.

Sauber later confirmed a gearbox penalty for their driver.

Mercedes look set for another dominating performance in Qualifying. Hamilton has the upper hand on Rosberg at the moment. Mercedes should lock out the front row once again. Some rain is expected for qualifying which should mix things up a bit.

Pos	Driver	Car	Best Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:30.904	1m30.904s	10
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:30.967	+0.063	18
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:31.488	+0.584	6
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:31.561	+0.657	7
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:32.049	+1.145	10
6	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	1:32.736	+1.832	15
7	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:32.754	+1.850	11
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	1:32.795	+1.894	14
9	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1:32.833	+1.929	13
10	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:32.889	+1.985	10
11	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas	1:32.895	+1.991	12
12	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:33.042	+2.138	11
13	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:33.344	+2.440	13
14	Sergio Perez	Force India	1:33.361	+2.457	13
15	Felipe Massa	Williams	1:33.340	+2.536	14
16	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:33.538	+2.634	10
17	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	1:33.710	+2.806	10
18	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:33.769	+2.865	13
19	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1:34.049	+3.145	10
20	Rio Haryanto	Manor	1:34.471	+3.567	14
21	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:34.551	+3.647	7
22	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor	1:34.658	+3.754	11

July 9, 2016

Sauber Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Preview Quotes

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Preview Quotes from the Sauber F1 Team

Marcus Ericsson

“Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last race of the season – it is unbelievable how time flies. It is very exciting to come back to Abu Dhabi, and I am looking forward to enjoying the race weekend there. This grand prix in the Middle East is always a great event attended by lots of fans from many countries. It is a race in the desert with the start at sunset. The track itself is in perfect condition, it is very modern and has some run-off areas.

As the circuit has a few long straights, engine power will be crucial. On the other hand, there are also hairpins and some slow speed corners. I am quite familiar with that track from my time in the GP2 series, and I also drove there for my first test for the Sauber F1 Team in November last year. Certainly, we will again do our best to score points – for a successful completion to the season.”

Felipe Nasr

“The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is another great event, and I will enjoy driving on this track with our car for the first time. So far, I have driven there as a GP2 driver and I have also had an F1 test with Williams. I can also say, because of my family’s Lebanese roots, I always receive a warm welcome and a lot of support both in the UAE and the whole of the Middle East. They make me feel I am also at home. I like the people, their traditions, their cultures and, of course, the food.

On the track it will be important again to find the right set-up, and this is where we need to concentrate our focus the most on Friday. The track in the desert sands is quite spectacular with unique surroundings. All in all, the atmosphere is special. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix starts late in the afternoon, which makes it even more interesting, because of the floodlit-style à la Singapore. We will keep on with our fight for a good result.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering

“After coming back empty-handed from South America, the whole team looks forward to fighting hard for more points and so to close this long season on a high at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The race start at sunset and finish in the dark means the temperatures will go in the opposite direction to what we usually experience, so the drivers and engineers will have to account for this, especially in the practice sessions happening earlier in the day in much hotter conditions.

The focus will be on braking performance, as well as traction optimisation. The car will need to be reactive and precise for the final sector and, at the same time, fast on the straights that dominate the earlier part of the lap. Lastly, trading off tyre performance against durability will be a challenge in the race, as Pirelli has confirmed last year’s choice of soft and supersoft compounds.”

November 26, 2015
Maldonado On Top of Time Sheets on Day 3 of Barcelona Test

Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado claimed the fastest time of the day on the 3rd day of the Barcelona test on the super soft tyres.

Maldonado’s run in the afternoon seen him cross the line with a 1:24.348, 0.391s ahead of Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso who also did a run on the super softs. “We achieved a lot today and it was great to complete so many laps and end the day as the fastest car,” said Maldonado.

Although the rain started to fall later in the day the drivers still managed to put in a respectable amount of laps one the rain had stopped.

The redesigned seal that was intended to fix McLaren’s MGU-K issue did not work as planned. This mean that Button had to run the day on reduced power completing only 24 laps for the day.

Defending World Champion, Lewis Hamilton took third spot of the day ahead of Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber. Hamilton still battling an illness said it was very tough day for him physically. That didnt seem to affect his pace too much though and he completed a marathon 101 laps.

After an out lap spin that put him into the gravel trap, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel completed the day with 105 laps with the 5th fastest time of 1:26.407 which was just marginally faster than Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull. Apart from the out lap incident. Vettel enjoyed a relatively trouble free day out on track.

Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas both drive for Williams on the day which seen Massa finishe 7th fastest and Bottas 9th fastest.

Mercedes test driver Pascal Wehrlein was back at Force India today. He completed 81 laps with the fastest time for him on the day of 1:27.333 in the 2014 VJM07.

February 22, 2015
Kamui Kobayashi confirmed for Caterham at Abu Dhabi GP

The Caterham F1 Team has announced that Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi will race for the team in the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This follows confirmation last week that the Caterham F1 team will be racing at the Yas Marina circuit following a desperate crowd funding campaign to help race funds to keep them on the grid.

Kobayashi returns to the grid to fill the seat of Marcus Ericsson who announced that he has cut ties with the Caterham team with immediate effect and us such will not be racing in Abu Dhabi. Le Mans champ, Andre Lotter turned down the chance to return to F1 with the team saying that, “It was nice to do Formula 1 but I want to do it in better conditions, in terms of track position”.

Caterham are yet to confirm who will drive alongside Kobayashi. It’s likely to be one of three candidates – Roberto Mehri, Max Chilton or even Rubens Barrichello. The team have said that they will announce Kobayashi’s team mate for the race “in due course”.

Kobayashi is looking forward to being back on the grid again and had this to say: “I am happy to be racing with the team in Abu Dhabi. It hasn’t been an easy last few weeks, so it will be nice to be back to in the car and work together with the Caterham F1 team members.

“I would like to thank the fans for supporting the team like they have. This team is working hard and never gives up. We deserve to be racing in Abu Dhabi and I am very glad we can race again thanks to the crowdfunding project.

“Now it is our turn to show what we can do – we will all try our best during the weekend ahead and hopefully we can end the season with a positive result for the future of this team.”

Finbarr O’Connell of Smith & Williamson, joint administrator of Caterham Sports Limited: “The team are delighted to have Kamui on board for the race weekend in Abu Dhabi. The Team commented that Kamui is a highly talented racing driver and he should be in a race car – that’s where he belongs.

“After the recent period of uncertainty for CaterhamF1, the Team are delighted, as part of its Restructuring Plan, to be able to showcase the cars again and what better way than with world renowned drivers like Kamui.”

Photo Credit: Caterham F1 Team

November 17, 2014
Canadian GP Qualifying: Rosberg narrowly beats Hamilton to pole

Nico Rosberg secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix after putting in a rocket fast final lap in qualifying denying teammate Lewis Hamilton the pleasure of his fifth pole position.

Hamilton dominated the entire weekend in Montreal but a mistake heading into Turn 8 on his final lap meant the Briton had to settle for second place on the grid. Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole by less than a tenth of a second.

Qualifying got underway with only 21 cars after Esteban Gutierrez crashed in the final practice session today, forcing Sauber to change his chassis. Valtteri Bottas was first out on track and posted the initial benchmark at 1.18.270 but teammate Felipe Massa went half a second faster to occupy the top spot on the timesheets until Rosberg came around to put his Mercedes up in first place.

Pastor Maldonado dropped out of Q1 once again – for fifth out of six times this season. He pulled his stricken Lotus over into an escape road ending his session. Things just aren’t going right for Maldonado at all this season and his Venezuelen sponsorship is already rumoured to be at risk.

With 16 seconds left on the clock, Marcus Ericsson brought out the red flag on the session when he binned his Caterham at turn nine. The session did not restart and Maldonado, Chilton, Bianchi, Kobayashi and Ericsson were eliminated from the proceedings.

Q2 got underway with Adrian Sutil first out on track with the entire field heading out on the supersoft tyres. Felipe Massa was the early leader in the session ahead of his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, and former Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso. The two Mercedes drivers only headed out a little later in the session but neither could shift Massa off the top of board with their initial efforts. It became clear that the Mercedes duo were not as strong on the supersofts as the Williams drivers were.

Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and Adrian Sutil were all eliminated at the end of Q2.

Q3 saw Bottas first out on track for a bit of clear air, setting the first benchmark at a 1.15.550. Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes to cross the line, going six-tenths quicker than Bottas. Hamilton also managed to go quicker than Bottas but fell just short of Rosberg’s time putting the German on provisional pole.

Both Rosberg and Hamilton made slight improvements on their final runs but Hamilton just couldn’t find the pace to match his teammate and a small error into Turn 8 likely cost him the pole position. Sebastian Vettel pulled a rabbit out of the bag and pushed out a flyer to qualify third ahead of the two Williams drivers, Bottas and Massa respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified sixth ahead of Alonso and Vergne, with Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the top ten.

Hamilton will no doubt be frustrated to not have been able to convert his dominant performance throughout the weekend into a pole position but the Briton seemed to take it in his stride today and seemed pleased to have another all-Mercedes front row. “Let’s go make history tomorrow,” Hamilton said at the post qualifying press conference.

History will indeed be made whatever happens tomorrow. We’re all set for a crack-a-lacking race and the stage is all set for a good battle upfront between Rosberg and Hamilton. The Williams drivers are looking exceptionally strong and they are definitely making a mark on the grid this weekend.

Please join us on Twitter for live chat and commentary as we watch it all pan out at 8pm GMT+2.

Full timesheets and your chance to win a VIP trip to the Belgian Grand Prix are below.

June 7, 2014