Marcus Ericsson claims he was left “fuming” inside his Sauber car under the impression that his result at the Mexican Grand Prix was being sacrificed for teammate Charles Leclerc.
Both drivers made it into the top 10 in qualifying on Saturday but knew a tough race lie ahead starting on the Hypersoft tyre compared to the Force India’s and others behind on more durable compounds.
As a result, the Swede was put onto a longer first stint than the Monegasque to try and hold back some of the other midfield drivers trying to make their way through the field.
“The plan was just to help Charles’ race basically,” Ericsson said. “I was just sacrificing my race completely to help him.
“I wanted to box many laps earlier because I knew I was throwing away my race for the team and for Charles.
“I was really fuming in the car. I was really getting frustrated, in a nice way,” he added. “I know we have to work for the team’s best, but for me it was a bit extreme.
“I’ve always done everything for the team, I always put the team first and I think that’s one of my abilities that people value a lot and I will always do that.”
Ultimately, however, the concerns wouldn’t be justified as Ericsson came home in ninth place while Leclerc finished only two places higher in seventh.
“It’s close with Bahrain but I would say it’s definitely up there. I think it’s one of my best races in F1 in general, I’m very proud of it,” he declared.
“The way I raced, keeping cars behind that were on fresher tyres, also sacrificing my strategy a lot for the other car and still managing to fight my way to P9, I’m very proud of that.
“To still finish ninth and beat all these cars was quite incredible.”
Now Marcus has just two more races before he hands his seat to Antonio Giovinazzi in 2019 and will hope to score at least one more point to achieve his best ever season tally.