F1 2015 Head-to-Head: Marcus Ericsson vs. Felipe Nasr at Sauber
The grey livery might have finally been consigned to history, but Sauber are still struggling to generate much excitement as far as their driver lineup is concerned.
And it's not through a lack of options.
Toward the end of last season, Sky Sports' James Galloway reported that a host of drivers had been in contention for, if not under the impression that they had secured, a 2015 Sauber seat.
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That shortlist included Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez, the team's 2014 race drivers, and reserve driver Giedo van der Garde.
Add to that group the names of Simona de Silvestro, the female racer who last year conducted some test sessions in preparation for a potential 2015 debut, and Sergey Sirotkin, the Moscow-born teenager who drove for the team in practice at the Russian Grand Prix, and you see that Sauber were spoilt for choice.
But to much surprise and outrage—Sutil and Van der Garde, according to Blick (h/t motorsport.com), threatened legal action, with the latter having his paddock pass revoked by the team ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as things turned nasty—Sauber rejected each of those options.
They instead placed their faith in Marcus Ericsson, the 2014 Caterham driver, and GP2 championship contender Felipe Nasr, creating a partnership that, in truth, is no stronger than any of the several driver combinations the team could have had for 2015.
Although it may seem as though Monisha Kaltenborn, the team principal, merely picked a couple of names out of a hat when choosing her drivers for the forthcoming campaign, the signing of Nasr and Ericsson is undoubtedly a move to address the financial problems which saw Sauber slip from occasional podium finishers to pointless backmarkers in just two seasons.
Both Ericsson and Nasr, as per the Press Association's Ian Parkes (h/t Daily Mail), provide between £10-12 million in sponsorship funds, which renders any on-track fight between the pair almost irrelevant alongside the battle of the bank balance.
Yet the Nasr-Ericsson alliance is, oddly, among the most compelling team-mate wars on this year's grid in the sense that very few have any idea just who will establish inter-team supremacy at Sauber.
With a year's F1 experience under his belt, Ericsson must be considered the de facto team leader heading into the campaign.
The Swede failed to make a real impression in his maiden season, beating team-mate Kamui Kobayashi just twice in the seven grands prix that both Caterham cars finished and out-qualifying the Japanese on just four occasions in the 15 races the pair raced alongside each other.
A smattering of mistakes, the most notable being his collision with Felipe Massa in Monaco qualifying, suggested that Ericsson was out of his depth in Formula One.
This feeling was only enhanced after the summer break when Kobayashi was replaced by first Andre Lotterer and Roberto Merhi, both of whom beat Ericsson for pace despite having no prior experience with Caterham's 2014 car.
Lotterer, as per Formula1.com, out-qualified Ericsson by a full second in wet conditions at Spa-Francorchamps, before Merhi went two-tenths quicker than the Swede in FP1 at the following round in Italy, according to the same source.
To his credit, however, Ericsson showed gradual improvement as the season progressed as the team began to get on top of what the 24-year-old referred to as "instability," per GPUpdate.net, and unpredictability under braking.
Those changes allowed Ericsson to showcase his true pace for the first time, with his form improving substantially—the Swede's 15th-place finish in Singapore was his best placing since he matched Caterham's best-ever result with a lucky run to 11th in Monaco—prior to the team entering administration.
Ericsson's rise in form when handed workable machinery implies that, despite being unable to adapt his driving style to suit the traits of the car in a Fernando Alonso-esque way—hardly a crime for someone of such little experience—he is capable of doing a solid, if unspectacular, job.
Which is all Sauber, in search of their first point in 19 grands prix, can hope for.
Whether Nasr can provide the flair to complement Ericsson, though, is up for debate.
The Brazilian raced in GP2 for three seasons between 2012 and 2014 for leading teams in DAMS and Carlin, but it wasn't until last year that he took the first of his four victories in the series.
That, although Nasr's GP2 career begun at the age of just 19, is arguably a cause for concern in itself, considering that the very best drivers to emerge from the series—think Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg—tend to be competitive from the off and win the title at the first time of asking.
Nevertheless, those wins laid the foundations for a championship assault, but despite being the main challenger to eventual title winner Jolyon Palmer for much of the campaign, Nasr still found a way to miss out on the runner-up spot, missing out to a rookie, Stoffel Vandoorne.
Palmer, who spent fours years in GP2 himself, went on to stick the boot in after clinching the title in Russia—prior to Nasr's signing by Sauber—by telling Sky Sports' The F1 Show television programme that the Brazilian wasn't "the quickest" of his rivals and he would expect Vandoorne to go further than Nasr.
Despite being dismissed by his rivals, it is evident that Nasr does have some degree of talent, having won the Formula BMW Europe title in 2009 and the British Formula Three crown in 2011, when he beat none other than Kevin Magnussen in a straight fight.
There is some potential on Nasr's side of the Sauber garage, and it is imperative that the Brazilian realises at least some of it in 2015, and gets the better of Ericsson on a regular basis, if he is to remain on the grid for years to come.
The Swede's experience will ensure that he has the edge early on, but Nasr—if he can refine his style and avoid the silly incidents that defined his pre-season preparations—should grow in confidence and stature as the season progresses.
Just don't expect too many fireworks at Sauber in 2015.
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