Ericsson: Honda swap right for Sauber

Despite Honda’s troubles, Marcus Ericsson believes Sauber have made the “right decision” in signing with the Japanese manufacturer for 2018.

Sauber announced last week that they would end their relationship with Ferrari at the end of this season, opting for Honda power for 2018.

The announcement has raised some eyebrows given Honda’s on-going struggles.

Ericsson, however, believes in the long run it will prove to be a good move for Sauber.

“I think for the team it’s a good step,” he told Autosport.

“Obviously looking at it now it doesn’t look so good, because Honda is having very big problems.

“But I think for longer-term it’s the right decision for the team. I think there is potential there.”

In fact Ericsson believes Sauber would even benefit this season from running the Honda engine rather than the year-old Ferrari unit currently powering his C36.

“Obviously we’re running a year-old Ferrari engine, which is not going to [get developed] this season – so maybe it would’ve been better to be with a Honda engine now and trying to get that to work.

“But we have what we have now and we have been trying to always maximise the Ferrari power unit we have.”