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Formula 1: Sauber’s 2018 drivers poised for success in 2019

By Asher Fair

SUZUKA, JAPAN - OCTOBER 04: Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Sauber F1 and Marcus Ericsson of Sweden and Sauber F1 pose for a photo with their car in the garage during previews ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka Circuit on October 4, 2018 in Suzuka. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)
SUZUKA, JAPAN - OCTOBER 04: Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Sauber F1 and Marcus Ericsson of Sweden and Sauber F1 pose for a photo with their car in the garage during previews ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka Circuit on October 4, 2018 in Suzuka. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images) /
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Sauber’s Formula 1 drivers from the 2018 season have both left the team, but they are both poised for success in the 2019 season.

The 2018 Formula 1 season was Marcus Ericsson’s fourth season driving for Alfa Romeo Sauber, and it was rookie Charles Leclerc’s first. These drivers combined to score 48 points for the Sauber in the 2018 season after the team had earned just 43 points in the last four seasons combined.

Following Sauber’s eighth place finish in the 2018 constructor standings, which tied their highest finish in the standings since they finished in seventh in the 2014 season, both of their drivers from last season are poised to have success in the 2019 season.

However, Ericsson will not return to the Swiss team for the fifth season, and Leclerc will not return to them for the second.

Instead, Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen are set to drive for Sauber in the 2019 season. Giovinazzi has two career Formula 1 starts under his belt, as he drove for Sauber in the first two races of the 2017 season as a replacement for the injured Pascal Wehrlein.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen has 292 career Formula 1 starts over the course of 16 seasons from 2001 to 2018 under his belt. He is a 21-time Grand Prix winner, and he won the 2007 championship.

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Ericsson has left Formula 1 for the 2019 season, but Leclerc is set to stay. Ericsson is set to compete in IndyCar for the first time in his career, and his experience competing in Formula 1 should serve him well as he makes the transition to a series that is far more competitive and contains far more parity than Formula 1.

Ericsson is set to drive for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, and they have been very competitive over the last several seasons. In fact, rookie Robert Wickens, who Ericsson is set to replace, came out of the gates in the 2018 season as an experienced Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters driver and dominated the season opener with no career IndyCar starts under his belt.

Before the race in which Wickens was severely injured at Pocono Raceway, the 14th race of the season, he had recorded four podium finishes, seven top five finishes and 10 top 10 finishes, and he sat in sixth place in the championship standings. In two of the races that he did not finish in the top 10, he failed to do so because he was wrecked by another driver. In the other one, his car had mechanical issues.

Former Formula 1 drivers have definitely had success in IndyCar, most recently Alexander Rossi, who won the 2016 Indianapolis 500 as a rookie and finished in second place in the 2018 championship standings behind only five-time champion Scott Dixon with a career-high three victories.

Given his Formula 1 background and his racing background in general, there is no reason to believe that Ericsson can’t, especially after what Wickens, who is also a former Formula 1 test driver, was able to accomplish as a rookie.

Leclerc, meanwhile, is set to replace Raikkonen at Scuderia Ferrari, which should give him an opportunity not only to win races but to compete for the championship.

Ferrari have finished in second place in the constructor standings behind Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in both of the last two and three of the last four seasons, and they finished only 84 points (655 t o 571) behind them last season, the smallest winning margin for Mercedes since the V6 turbo hybrid era began in the 2014 season.

Had Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel not made the amount of errors that he made throughout the 2018 season, he, not Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, likely would have been crowned champion for the fifth time in his career, and Ferrari, not Mercedes, likely would have been crowned constructor champions.

If the 21-year-old Monegasque can avoid making the mistakes that Vettel made throughout the 2018 season, he could have chance to become the youngest champion in Formula 1 history and the first non-Mercedes driver to win a championship in the V6 turbo hybrid era.

He could also propel Ferrari to their first constructor championship since the 2008 season and make the 2019 season the first season of the V6 turbo hybrid era that does not result in Mercedes being crowned constructor champions.

Keep a close eye on both of Sauber’s drivers from the 2018 season in the 2019 season.

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How much success will Charles Leclerc have in his first season driving for Ferrari in Formula 1, and how much success will Marcus Ericsson have in his first season competing in IndyCar driving for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports? Will either driver be crowned champion in 2019?

The 17-race 2019 IndyCar season is scheduled to get underway one week before the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season is scheduled to do so.

The Firestone Grand Prix is set to open up the IndyCar season on Sunday, March 10 from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida while the Australian Grand Prix is set to open up the Formula 1 season on Sunday, March 17 at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia.

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