Ericsson: Sauber must target points at Spa and Monza

Marcus Ericsson says that Sauber must capitalise on the efficiency of the Ferrari engine and aim for points in the next two rounds. The Swiss team has racked up 18 points so far in 2018, with Ericsson collecting five for himself.

After running with a year-old Ferrari engine in 2017, Sauber's results have boosted this year, partially due to the strength of the Italian outfit's engine. And with the next two races on the calendar being top speed dependant, Ericsson states that Sauber needs to take advantage.

“I think Spa and Monza can be good tracks for us, it’s tracks we like,” said Ericsson. “We know it’s [the engine update] working, we tried it in Hungary, was working fine, means we can use it to the fullest at Spa and Monza.

“We need to score points in both races with both cars, that’s the aim. For sure these two tracks will be good for us, our target needs to be to score points both weekends, especially what Toro Rosso did in Hungary.

“We were hoping to be ahead of them going into summer and they had a strong score so we need to bounce back at Spa and Monza, they will be two good tracks for us and maybe weaker for them.”

Ericsson's best result this year has been a ninth-place finish at the Bahrain and German Grands Prix. The Swede's future is uncertain, however it is expected that he will remain at the team next year as Longbow Finance, Sauber's backers, have links to Ericsson.