Ericsson disgruntled by "false" driver inequality rumours

Marcus Ericsson was left deeply unhappy after reports suggested Monisha Kaltenborn's departure from the team was due to the fact that drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Ericsson were not being treated as equals at the Hinwil-based outfit.

Kaltenborn's exit was announced on Wednesday morning, meaning that Sauber will run in Baku this weekend without a team principal. Ericsson stated that it upset him that people could suggest such things about a team that works hard to deliver the maximum.

"When I read all these stories, they were upsetting for me and the whole team," said Ericsson. "All these rumours were false and untrue and a slap in the face of every single member of Sauber. This is a team that works day and night to get back to success, with both cars and both drivers.

"If somebody dreams up such a story it becomes a fact, and everybody copies this bulls**t that the team is giving unfair advantages, [which] is completely unfair and disrespectful. They just responded to what was out in the press, because it was hurting the team, and we don't want to see things spread that are completely false."

Baku 

Speaking about this weekend's action in Azerbaijan, Ericsson hopes that a number of car upgrades that are being brought will help Sauber, but understands that running with year-old Ferrari power down Baku's long start-finish straight could hurt them.

"We have the engine that we have and it works better on some tracks than on others. We have some updates here on the mechanical side, so let’s see if they help us here. From now on there will be updates – bits and pieces – at every race so I am looking very much forward to them from a driver perspective. We are pushing very hard to maximise the package that we have. I hope that we can be competitive but the 2.2 kilometre straight is a big chunk to swallow!"

Fergal Walsh