Marcus Ericsson has labelled Sauber’s recent performance step as “quite unexpected” and is hopeful that the team can maintain its momentum into this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Sauber secured its best result since 2015 in Spain, with Pascal Wehrlein running a one-stop strategy to take eighth place, displaying competitive pace in the midfield.
Ericsson, meanwhile, placed 11th, and expressed surprise at the gains made to the C36-Ferrari in Barcelona, ahead of the introduction of another raft of updates – including a new floor, bargeboards and brake ducts – this weekend.
“Honestly the whole weekend in Barcelona, with the pace we had, I was a bit surprised as I didn’t really think we were going to be able to keep that pace for the whole weekend,” he said.
“It’s really good for us and we bring that with us here going into this weekend as we believe that if we can be that competitive there we can be at least as competitive here in Monaco, or even more [competitive] as we're bring a lot of updates here.
“We only really brought a rear wing for Barcelona and the rest is coming here.
“We didn’t expect to be that strong in Barcelona, there were some different reasons, one is that the rear wing worked a bit better than expected.
“The track suited us a bit better than expected as it’s not so engine sensitive, and we found some things with the set-up and with the tyres to get them to work better, especially on the tyre side to control that better, as that’s sensitive for performance.
“All these different things put together [led to] a big step, but it was quite unexpected to be honest, but in a very good way.”
Ericsson is wary that introducing new parts in Monaco presents a challenge – due to the quirky nature of the venue – but is “99.9 per cent” sure that the C36-Ferrari will be improved by the latest steps.
“Bringing it to a track like Monaco, it’s impossible really to get a read on how much we gain,” he reflected on the upgrade package.
“We’re not going to really be able to know how much of a step we’ve taken either.
“I think the plan is to put it on and we’re going to run it, unless it’s undriveable, all the time, as we’re 99.9 per cent sure it’s a step forward, it must be better than what we had before.
“The plan is to have it on from the first lap and keep it on all weekend.”
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