Marcus Ericsson has declared his second season of IndyCar will be the main focus despite anticipating a role in Formula 1 at Alfa Romeo.
The Swede lost his seat to Kimi Raikkonen for 2019 but remained as reserve driver at the Swiss team while also competing in the American series with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsport.
However, those duel duties clashed in August when Ericsson was forced to miss a round in Portland having been called to Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix as a precaution after Kimi Raikkonen suffered a minor injury during the summer break.
“Everything happened very quickly,” F1i.com quoted him as telling Swedish outlet Expressen.
“In the US they noticed that I would not be driving [at Portland] and therefore assumed that I would be racing in F1.
“That’s the problem with social media today if someone writes something it becomes like an explosion and then it goes everywhere.
“Alfa Romeo then came out and put the cards on the table, but it wasn’t optimal, it was a bit chaotic.”
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The failure to drive in Belgium, however, greatly frustrated Ericsson, who claims his move to the Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar will now take preference next year.
“I have a long relationship with Alfa Romeo and Sauber and I’m pretty sure I will have some role there, but then I’ve also said that I really want to focus 100 per cent on this IndyCar season,” he declared.
“The priority is not to be a reserve driver in Formula 1, the priority is IndyCar. But I don’t want to say too much about it, it’s complicated, with different things to take into account. We’ll see in the future what Alfa Romeo and even Ganassi want.”