CIRCUIT DE BARCELONA-CATALUNYA | Marcus Ericsson has finished eleventh on day one of testing at the Barcelona-Catalunya. On a day that has been conditioned by difficult conditions, with cold and rain in the afternoon, the Swedish driver has been able to set a 1:23.408 and complete 63 laps on his Alfa Romeo Sauber C-37.

“Unfortunately the weather was maybe not the best,” Said Ericsson about the weather and track conditions. “so we’ve been limited on running but overall it was not a bad day.”

When asked about why he took so much time to start setting laptimes, he told: “Yeah, we had to do a lot of checks, we went on track and returned to pits to check that everything was right and then, after a few runs. In the afternoon we planned to do a lot of running and then, with the weather, we were not able to do that.”

“I feel it’s quite different,” He said about the new car. “It’s early to get conclussion and also with the track conditions it’s difficult to say anything. But I think we can all see it’s a different looking car. We need more running before being specific about that. I feel that reliability is a lot better,” He told about the new engine. “Power is higher despite we’ve been running on low power today. I’m sure we will have a good step ahead.”

“It’s very different,” Said the Swedish driver to Formula Rapida about the new track surface. “It’s smooth, with no bumps, so it’s different for sure.” “I didn’t see the Halo in all day,” Said Ericsson to us af for the new safety device. “For me, it’s perfect.”

“Everyone is on the same boat there,” He said to FormulaRapida.net“Obviously we would like to have nice weather so we have proper testing and it doesn’t look that it’s gonna be like that.”

“So far it’s been good,” He finally said us about his new teammate Charles Leclerc and their relationship. “He’s obviously a very talented driver and seems like a nice guy as well so, so far it’s been good.”