Marcus Ericsson says a “big push is needed” from his side if he is to stay on in Formula 1 with Sauber in 2018.
Ericsson has been with Sauber since 2015, having spent his rookie year with Caterham, and has connections with the team’s owners, Longbow Finance, which acquired the outfit mid-2016.
However, Ericsson has not scored a point in over two years, and accepts he needs to prove that he deserves to remain with Sauber for a fourth season.
“Nothing is done at the moment for me,” Ericsson said on his future.
“So yeah, I need to keep pushing and do good, [it’s] the last couple of races now to show that I deserve to be in F1 next year.
“It’s important for me now, even though we are struggling a bit as a team to keep up with the other guys, it’s still very important races for me. So, yeah, a big push [is] needed.”
Sauber, which began the year towards the back of the field, has firmly slipped to the rear of the order, amid lacklustre development, accentuated by using a year-old Ferrari power unit.
Ericsson, though, has stressed that Sauber must retain its motivation in order to grasp any opportunity which may come in its direction.
“With the old power unit it’s always going to be difficult towards the second half of the season,” he explained.
“And now we’re really see in the last couple of races that we’ve been lacking quite a lot compared to the competition.
“It’s tough – but we need to still, as a team, keep pushing and keep motivated and do the best we can to maximise the performance.
“Here in Malaysia as well, the weather can really play a big part. We need to be there to maximise and try to take the opportunities.
“I thing that’s the important thing to keep the motivation high and keep pushing as a team.”
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