IndyCar: Will Marcus Ericsson drive for Carlin Motorsport in 2019?

With Marcus Ericsson set to leave Formula 1 after the 2018 season, will he end up switching to IndyCar and driving for Carlin Motorsport in 2019?

Marcus Ericsson is currently in his fifth season as a full-time Formula 1 driver and his fourth season driving for Alfa Romeo Sauber. However, the 28-year-old Swede will not be returning to the Swiss team next year, effectively meaning that he will not land a ride in Formula 1 in the 2019 season.

Ericsson’s teammate, rookie Charles Leclerc, is set to move to Scuderia Ferrari as the replacement for 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen next season, and Raikkonen is set to return to Sauber, the team for which he drove in his rookie season, the 2001 season, in an effective driver switch.

However, per Sauber’s title sponsorship deal with Alfa Romeo, Ferrari have the right to choose one of the two drivers who will make up Sauber’s driver lineup. This past season, they chose Leclerc. Sauber, meanwhile, chose Ericsson.

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Despite the fact that Raikkonen is set to move to Sauber via a driver switch involving Leclerc, he is not Ferrari’s selection for the team for next season, effectively meaning that he is Ericsson’s replacement.

Ferrari ended up selecting Sauber test driver Antonio Giovinazzi to be Raikkonen’s teammate in the 2019 season, effectively making him Leclerc’s replacement. With Sauber’s driver lineup set, Ericsson is officially without a ride, as expected.

Now Ericsson has become the latest of several Formula 1 drivers linked to a potential switch to IndyCar, as he is reportedly looking at driving for Carlin Motorsport in the 2019 season. Make no mistake about it; he has the funding to do so.

Carlin Motorsport entered IndyCar for the first time this past season, and they fielded two entries. Charlie Kimball drove the #23 Chevrolet for the team and Max Chilton drove the #59 Chevrolet.

Chilton is set to return to the team in the 2019 season, but Kimball’s future appears to be less certain. This is the case despite the the fact that Carlin Motorsport are exploring the possibility of adding a third car for next season.

If they do add a third car for 2019, Ed Jones is the likely candidate to drive it since he is set to be replaced by Felix Rosenqvist at Chip Ganassi Racing next season and he drove for Carlin Motorsport in the 2014 European Formula 3 Championship and in the 2015 and 2016 Indy Lights seasons.

Regardless of whether or not Carlin Motorsport field two or three cars next season, Ericsson, who drove for the team in the 2008 Macau Grand Prix, is a legitimate candidate to drive one of them at this point. Here is what he had to say about a potential switch to IndyCar in the 2019 season, according to RACER.

"“The most attractive for me is IndyCar at the moment, so I’m looking at it. We’re talking to some teams there. I think it’s a realistic target. We also are talking to teams in other categories as well.“For me I want to race at the highest level possible because I see myself coming back to Formula 1 in the future as well, and to be able to come back to Formula 1, I want to stay in single-seaters and I want to stay in fast cars. Looking at how it is at the moment in motorsport, for me IndyCar is the one that is the best series to do that in.“I’ve always looked at it and thought it would be really cool. Now I think the racing over there is amazing, it looks so much fun, and when you speak to drivers or other people that are over there, they all seem to love it and say that the racing is great and the atmosphere is great and the series is really on the up. That’s also something that makes me quite interested in it.”"

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Will Marcus Ericsson drive for Carlin Motorsport in the 2019 IndyCar season? If not, in which series will he end up driving next year?