F1: Marcus Ericsson switches to IndyCar in 2019
With the 2018 Formula One season coming to a close, teams have been making moves to secure their drivers for the 2019 season. Sauber is one of those teams that made a host of changes to their lineup following Charles Leclerc's move to Scuderia Ferrari next season.
The team signed the current Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen, who has shown at Austin that he still has the pace and skills required for Formula One. Sauber's other signing Antonio Giovinazzi for 2019 meant that Marcus Ericsson would be moved to the position of a reserve driver for the team.
This opened the doors for the Swede to join IndyCar next season for the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team.
"It's a great honour to be picked as one of the drivers at Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and IndyCar for the 2019 season," said Ericsson. The Swede will drive the #7 car for SPM in 2019 as the #6 was retained for Robert Wickens, who was injured earlier this year.
"I can't wait to start work with SPM and all the people in the team which I've heard a lot of good things about. They've had some great success over the years, and I'm looking forward to working hard to continue and improve on that path," he added.
The team co-owner Schmidt said, "He [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."
Three-time GP2 race winner, Marcus Ericsson made his Formula One debut in 2014. In his 95 starts since then (Mexican Grand Prix), the Swedish driver predominantly raced for the Sauber team. The last two races of the 2018 season were great for he managed to finish in the points both at the United States Grand Prix and the Mexican Grand Prix. Currently, he is in the seventeenth place with nine championship points.
With only two more races to go, Ericsson would want to continue his good run of form and finish in the points in both of those races at Brazil and Abu Dabhi to end the season on a high note.