Sauber sign Ericsson for 2015 (Update)
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| How naive! Marcus Ericsson was surprised? When the team saw how large his check was they were going to get the contract signed ASAP before another team got their mitts on it. |
Marcus Ericsson says he was surprised by how quickly his deal to race for Sauber in 2015 was completed.
Ericsson has raced for Caterham in his rookie campaign but the squad entered administration and withdrew from the United States Grand Prix.
Ericsson travelled to Austin as a guest of Swedish Television and on Saturday afternoon he was announced as a 2015 Sauber driver.
"My management was speaking to different teams for a while, but after everything that happened with Caterham it went into a faster speed in the talks," Ericsson told Crash.net.
"I knew we were speaking to them but I wasn't expecting anything get sorted this early.
"Last year everything was sorted at the end of January, so to have it done in November is great because you start preparing yourself now and start getting to know the people you are going to work with, so to have that stability is great."
Ericsson finished a best of 11th in Monaco while piloting the Caterham CT05. The identity of his team-mate for next season has not yet been announced.
11/01/14 Sauber have signed Swede Marcus Ericsson to race for the team in 2015.
Ericsson, 24, made his Formula 1 debut in 2014 with Caterham, who went into administration last month.
Their decision means one of their current drivers, Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez, is likely to lose his place in the sport next season.
Sauber team boss Monisha Kaltenborn described Ericsson as a "highly motivated driver" whose signing would give the Swiss outfit "fresh impetus".
Sauber have been struggling financially this season and Ericsson comes with substantial backing from his native country.
Ericsson said: "Fresh from a very turbulent week, I was suddenly given my best early Christmas present ever.
"Sauber has put its trust in me for 2015 and it makes me proud as Sauber is known as one of the best teams in developing young drivers. It will be a great challenge."
Caterham's Marcus Ericsson crashes in qualifying for the Malaysia Grand Prix
Archive: Dramatic crash ends Ericsson's wet debut
The move leaves three drivers hoping to land one empty seat.
Along with Sutil, who says he has a contract for 2015, and Gutierrez, reserve driver Giedo Van Der Garde said at the US Grand Prix on Friday that his target was a race seat at Sauber next year and that it was "looking good". BBC