Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, Circuit of the Americas, 2018

Ericsson joins Schmidt-Peterson IndyCar team – but not as replacement for Wickens

IndyCar

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Marcus Ericsson will race for Schmidt Peterson in the 2019 IndyCar series, the team has announced.

Schmidt Peterson was in need of another full-time driver after Robert Wickens suffered serious injuries he sustained in a crash at Pocono Raceway in August. However the team has announced Ericsson will drive car number seven rather than Wickens’ number six.

“The number six Honda remains open for 2018 IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Robert Wickens when he wants to and is able to return,” the team confirmed in a statement.

Wickens said last week the medical team treating him do not yet know whether he will be able to walk again after suffering paralysis in his crash.

“Since my spinal cord injury was ‘incomplete,’ the nerves may be able to find a way back to my legs,” he said. “Incomplete means the spinal cord was not severed, it was only bruised. In months time the swelling will go down and we will learn more on how much nerve regeneration happens.”

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Ericsson’s team mates will be James Hinchcliffe and part-time entrant Jack Harvey. The Sauber driver, currently in his fifth season of F1, called his move “a perfect step for me and my career after five years in F1.”

Schmidt Peterson won last year’s race at Iowa and came within a lap of winning the season-opener at St Petersburg before Wickens was hit by rival Alexander Rossi.

“The racing in IndyCar looks great and I feel really excited to be part of it in the future,” Ericsson added. “It will be a lot to learn including new tracks, oval racing, etc… I know it won’t be easy, but it’s a challenge I’m very much looking forward to and I can’t wait to get started.”

SPM co-owner Sam Schmidt said Ericsson “has a ton of experience racing in the top levels of motorsports, so we believe that he will be able to contribute to our development program that began in earnest in 2018.

“While the circuits on the IndyCar schedule will be brand new to him, particularly the ovals, we have a lot of confidence and trust in his eagerness to learn along with his work ethic. We think he and James will be a good fit to push one another and fight for those wins.”

Ericsson has lost his seat at Sauber for the 2019 F1 season as the team has chosen an all-new driver line-up following Charles Leclerc’s departure to Ferrari. Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi will drive for the team next year.

Although Ericsson will retain links to Sauber in his capacity as official reserve driver, several of next year’s IndyCar races clash with F1 rounds.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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15 comments on “Ericsson joins Schmidt-Peterson IndyCar team – but not as replacement for Wickens”

  1. The way they did the announcement was heart-warming, and touching.

    l think Ericsson is a very nice and generous guy, and wouldn’t be surprised if he can show that more in Indycar. He held pretty okay against Wehrlein, and while Leclerc has been out-qualifying him for a while now, in the races he has been delivering solid results. I certainly wish him luck and hope to see him shine in his new team/series.

    1. @bosyber I like Ericsson but he was just as beaten in the races as in qualifying. He held his own against his previous team mates and does fine a midfield team but against Leclerc and his likes he can only be a number 2.
      Hamilton would love him as teammate.

      1. Not to take anything away from Leclerc, he’s a fabulous driver and remarkably quick (Vettel will probably soon find out). But with due respect it has to be said that Ericsson has been forced by the team to compromise his races on several occasions to help Leclerc which has made Ericsson look worse than he actually is. Now in Mexico, for the first time, Ericsson openly admitted that he was asked to hold back 2 sec per lap while behind Leclerc during the first stint, and also that he was hindered to pit when he wanted, before Leclerc, but instead had to stay out a few more laps to further block the cars behind so that Leclerc would gain maximum possible from his early pit stop. All in all, should Ericsson have been allowed to run at maximum pace from start and then pit when he wanted, he’d most probably undercut Leclerc and in the end bring home a 7-8 result for the team instead of the 7-9. So to summarize, Sauber actually gave up points just to favourise Leclerc! You could perhaps argue for that decision early on when you didn’t know that Perez and Alonso would retire but still it definitely show how the team handle their two drivers. It’s also been the case before during the season, that Ericsson has been kept out for much longer than optimal, just to keep the cars behind from gaining on Leclerc. Singapore is a recent example where he held up Sainz Jr for a few laps while losing valuable time on track, which most probably cost him a position to Vandoorne, all while Leclerc couldn’t capitalize on Sainz.

        But as Sauber put it on why Ericsson was hired before this season: “He is a team player”. I’m not so sure Nasr or Wehrlein would’ve played the game the same way.

        1. Well @Jonas, wasn’t quite aware of that, guess that shows who the team think is the future.
          @rethla at the start of the season (before Leclerc hit his stride), he was the one showing us the Sauber was a step ahead of where they were last year. I agree he’s not on Leclerc’s potential as an F1 driver, but mostly he’s been solid. I would say he’s probably shown better than, for example, Stroll, this year (though the Williams makes showing anything very difficult), and if he’s indeed a team player, that’s something that the Indycar team surely will appreciate too.

          1. @bosyber
            Being better than Stroll is no achievment.

        2. He was forced to be the team player because he’s the slower driver. It’s simple as that, if you don’t want to help your team mate first you need to be faster than him.

          1. @miani: For sure, Ericsson has been clearly outqualified by Leclerc and is slower in a shootout situation, there’s no debate really. When it comes to actual race performance it all looks a bit different, but this is something many people maybe don’t realize. Leclerc had a fantastic race weekend in Baku where he ran away in the points table but besides that single race they have been very close with similar results on Sundays. Add to that team orders. To conclude, although he’s surely not one of the fastest on the grid (nor is Bottas or Raikkonen and a bunch of others) but still a fully qualified F1 driver, and certainly better than the average viewer may tend to believe.

  2. He’s joining a really good team, and getting into a really good car. He’s going to find out quickly there are very good drivers in the series. It will be really interesting to see how he does.

    Get Fred’s deal worked out too. He shouldn’t have burned his bridges with Honda. I bet he’s kicking himself repeatedly in the rear for that.

    1. at least he has plenty of experience on that

  3. He might just be awesome in Indycar. We’ve seen worn out or even (Somewhat or outright) slow F1 drivers do more than well for themselves in the more analog cars. I’m sure the racing will be much more exciting for him, and then all those new tracks and ovals to learn… If you’re in F1 it’s bound to be difficult to see other things to strive for, but Indycar does have plenty of challenges for any level of driver.

  4. I don’t understand why anyone would move from F1 to Indy – too much to lose and nothing to gain.
    Actually I don’t know why anyone with a paid drive would move to Indy. I’d rather race GT3 and keep my health than run on the ovals.
    Motorsport is inherently dangerous, but Indy is just suicidal.

    1. Isn’t everyone in F1 a pay driver from the beginning!I can understand how you think about risks but if you are afraid you is chanceless in these levels.Il think ME have don a pretty good job in F1 but now we will se him against Rosenqvist and that will be the real challenge.Good luck Marcus

  5. Will be intriguing to see how he does compared to Rosenqvist, someone who never made it to F1 despite lots of people regarding him as the better Swede, but maybe teams didn’t consider him due to his late blooming (only won F3 when he was 23, in his 4th year, but did beat Wehrlein and Sainz in all of his rookie season)

  6. I am glad he made a move rather than to to sit as a no.3.

    Not sure with Marcus to be honest, would have liked to see him in a better car to see if he had the talents or was just a pay driver with country money.

    I do think the latter for F1 standards but wish him best of luck for next year…. smash it Marcus!! Best of luck fella!!

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