Marcus Ericsson has made no secret of his frustration after spinning out of Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix when fighting for position inside the top ten.
Ericsson’s sophomore season in F1 got off to an incredible start in Australia as he scored his first points in the sport, finishing eighth at Albert Park.
The Sauber driver followed this up by recording a career-best qualifying in Malaysia on Saturday, lining up ninth on the grid.
A good start saw him gain a position, but his race came to an early end when he spun into the gravel after trying to pass Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg for P7 on lap three of the race.
“It is a very frustrating end to a good weekend,” Ericsson said after the race. “I felt comfortable in the car straight away and had a good start during which I could make up one position.
“Nico must have had a good start as he was ahead of me, but I felt I had more pace than he did. When I tried to pass him down to turn one, I went for the move to the outside.
“I know it is possible to overtake there, but unfortunately I lost the rear, went off and got stuck in the gravel trap.
“Anyway, we need to take the positives out of this weekend, and I have learned from what happened in the race. In China we will be even stronger.”
To make matters worse for Sauber, Felipe Nasr also failed to score any points in Malaysia as he struggled to P12 at the flag behind Romain Grosjean.
The result marked a drastic turnaround in fortunes for the Brazilian, who had finished fifth on debut at the Australian Grand Prix two weeks earlier.
“It was overall a difficult weekend for me,” Nasr said. “I was struggling to find a good set-up for the car. We need to reflect and understand why we didn’t have enough pace.
“The race itself was not easy, as I had contact early on with Kimi [Raikkonen]. I should have avoided this incident, but it can happen sometimes when we are racing. Now we have to look forward to the next race weekend in China.”