Born and raised inKumla, Ericsson began competitivekart racing aged nine, winning several national titles. After a successful debut in car racing in 2007 which saw him take the BritishFormula BMW title withFortec Motorsport, he moved up into the British team'sBritish Formula Three Championship squad. After finishing as one of the top rookies in the category, Ericsson turned his attentions to theAll-Japan Formula Three Championship where he won the championship in hisdebut year. In 2010, he moved up to theGP2 Series where he secured one victory during his maiden campaign forSuper Nova Racing. Between2011 and2012, Ericsson drove foriSport. Ericsson completed the2013 GP2 season with DAMS, and debuted in Formula One in2014 withCaterham F1.
Marcus Thorbjörn Ericsson was born on 2 September 1990 inKumla,Örebro County, Sweden.[1] Ericsson's first taste ofmotorsport came when he was nine years old racing inkarts. "I got a call fromFredrik Ekblom, whom I ran inBritish Formula 3000 andIndy Lights. He now runs a kart circuit and he told me about a nine-year old kid who'd walked in off the street and nearly broke the lap record", recalledRichard Dutton, head ofFortec Motorsport.[2] Ekblom managed to convince Ericsson's father, Tomas, to buy his son a kart and the young Swede stayed in karting for the next four years, "I'd never really thought about racing as a career. My family didn't have the money for me to raceformula cars so we never thought about it", Ericsson said.[2]
I spotted Marcus at a race inGothenburg. He didn't win the race because his engine blew up with two laps to go but he was clearly the best out there. He didn't get caught in any battles when passing – he'd just wait for the right opportunity, then he pounced and he was away. He has such patience but when he does go for it, it measures so perfectly. He reminded me of watchingAlain Prost.[2]
Bräck convinced Richard Dutton, who ran Bräck in theBritish Formula Three Championship in 1989, to race Ericsson for his Fortec Motorsport team's2007 Formula BMW UK title challenge. Ericsson said of his chances during the season, "I was thinking that I should be around top eight to start with, trying for podiums and maybe wins by the end of the year".[2] Ericsson's first win came at the first meeting of the series atBrands Hatch where he took third place in the first race and won frompole position in the second race. Following his win, Ericsson was described byAutosport as "the best young talent" Bräck had ever seen.[3] Ericsson was in the title race for the whole season, challenging CzechJosef Král andBritHenry Arundel. In the end, Ericsson, aged 16, won the title by 40 points from Kral, becoming the final Champion of the British Formula BMW series before the series merged with the German series to make a European championship.[4]
Following his win of the Formula BMW title, Ericsson began aiming for a seat in Formula Three. Tests followed with the British Formula 3 teamRäikkönen Robertson Racing as part of his prize for winning the title that year. Afterward Ericsson had a test with frontrunningFormula 3 Euro Series team ASM, laterART Grand Prix.[citation needed] Despite an offer to join ASM, Ericsson opted to stay in England and join Fortec's British Formula 3 team.[5] Ericsson received with two pole positions and a handful of podium finishes, but no victories, which gave him fifth overall in the championship.[citation needed]
During the winter of 2008, Ericsson signed a contract with theJapanese F3 teamTOM'S to compete full-time in the championship for the upcoming 2009 season. Ericsson said that he was more likely to gain the experience needed to win theMacau Grand Prix in comparison to competing further in the British championship.[6] Ericsson won the Japanese F3 championship and also won races when making guest appearances back in British F3. He consequently participated in the Macau Grand Prix where he qualified in pole position and finished the main race in the fourth position.[7]
In 2013, he competed for the reigning championsDAMS, taking pole positions in Spain and Great Britain. In Germany, he won the feature race, and he continued with podium positions in Hungary, Belgium, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi to finish sixth in the championship.[citation needed]
Ericsson drove forBrawn GP at the young driver test atCircuito de Jerez over three days, on 1–3 December 2009. He tested alongsideIndyCar Series driverMike Conway.[11] Conway had the edge by three-tenths of a second, however team principalRoss Brawn commended Ericsson for his performance, saying that he had "performed very well showing exceptional maturity in his approach and feedback".[12]
On 21 November 2013, It was announced that Ericsson was a candidate to drive for the Caterham F1 Team in 2014 withKamui Kobayashi as teammate.[13] On 21 January 2014, the team announced that Ericsson and Kobayashi would be their race driver line up for the forthcoming season, withRobin Frijns as reserve.[14]
Ericsson qualified 20th in his debut race– the2014 Australian Grand Prix, running 11th before he fell back with oil pressure problems. InMalaysia, he qualified last, finishing 14th in front of main rivalMax Chilton. InSpain, he outqualified Kobayashi for the first time in his career, but he was behind bothMarussia cars. He finished the race in 20th position, the last classified finisher.[15] In the next race, theMonaco Grand Prix, he was involved in a collision withWilliams driverFelipe Massa during qualifying, which resulted in Massa not advancing to the second part of the qualifying session.[16] Ericsson was penalised with two penalty points and had to start from the pit lane. He finished in 11th place, just missing out on his and Caterham's first points.[17][18]
After this, he suffered a crash in the rain inHungary, when he lost control of his car on the exit of turn 3 and hit the barriers.[19] He was unhurt, but the car was destroyed. In theBelgian Grand Prix he battled with the Marussias again, losing 16th place to Chilton on the penultimate lap.[20] InSingapore, he finished in 15th place and inJapan, he out-qualified both Marussias and Kobayashi for 19th position.[21] He started 17th, but spun behind the safety car in heavy rain, and had to fight back from last place. He finished 17th, in front of both Marussias and Kobayashi, but his performance was overshadowed by the crash ofBianchi.[22] At the inauguralRussian Grand Prix, he qualified in a career-best 17th position, missing out on making it into Q2 by only 0.15 seconds.[23] During the race, he started 16th but fell back, finishing 19th overall but in front of his main rivals– the other Caterham and the sole Marussia of Chilton, who both eventually retired from the race.[24]
Due to Caterham F1 falling intoadministration on 21 October 2014, neither team driver was able to compete at theUnited States Grand Prix. Despite this, Ericsson flew to Texas to commentate the race for Swedish television and secured a new drive for 2015. Ericsson terminated his contract with Caterham on 12 November.[25] He eventually finished the season in 19th position, highest of the Caterham drivers that took part in2014.[18]
Malaysia was the first time that Ericsson made it into Q3, qualifying 10th but was ultimately promoted to 9th. He spun on the fourth lap after an unsuccessful overtaking attempt onForce India'sNico Hülkenberg which resulted in retirement.[30] InChina, Ericsson again made it into Q3 in qualifying, again qualifying 10th. He finished the race in the same position, scoring one point afterMax Verstappen's engine failed with only a few laps remaining.[31] InBahrain he qualified outside the top 10, and held eighth position when a pit stop error caused him to fall down the field, and he ultimately finished the race in 14th position.[32] In the first European leg of the season he finished 14th inSpain and 13th inMonaco.[33][34]
In the2015 British Grand Prix he finished 11th – just outside the points.[35] He scored one more point before the summer break, with a 10th-place finish inHungary, followed by another 10th position inBelgium. At theItalian Grand Prix Ericsson qualified for Q3, where he ended up 10th, before he was given a grid penalty for blocking Nico Hülkenberg in Q1.[36] Ericsson eventually finished 9th – taking his fifth points position for the year and again being in front of teammateFelipe Nasr.[37][38]
In 2016, Sauber missed pre-season testing due to financial concerns hurting their car development for 2016.[40] Ericsson was running 15th before vibrations forced his retirement inAustralia and finished twelfth inBahrain in the next round.[41] He ran just outside the points inChina but steadily dropped to sixteenth, which was still enough to finish ahead of his teammate.[42] InRussia he recovered from contact on the first lap of the race to take 14th at the finish.[41][43] InSpain he finished twelfth, but inMonaco he was deemed to be at fault for a collision with his teammate, resulting in a grid penalty forCanada that made him start from the back.[41][44][45] The following races saw him finishing 17th inBaku and 15th inAustria, with qualifying crashes inSilverstone andHungary forcing him to start from the pit lane.[41][46][47]
InMonza, he finished 16th whilst inSingapore he made it into Q2 and was close to scoring his first point until a strategic error from the team.[41] He ran close to the points inMalaysia andSuzuka, in front of his teammate in qualifying and the race.[41][48][49][50] InAustin, he ran 11th for part of the race but dropped to 14th by the checkered flag, and inMexico he recovered from a first lap crash to finish eleventh, just outside of the points.[41][51][52] He crashed out of the race inBrazil but finished 15th inAbu Dhabi.[41]
Ericsson's2017 campaign did not start well as a hydraulic issue inAustralia caused him to have to retire.[53] He qualified 14th and finished 15th inChina.[53] He struggled to match his teammate Wehrlein inBahrain with his race ending in another retirement caused by a gearbox failure.[53] He finished 15th inRussia, ahead of his teammate for the first time over the season.[54] Ericsson got his best result of the season of 11th inAzerbaijan where he fought for points with his teammate.[53] Sauber started to struggle inMonaco with Ericsson crashing into the barrier while overtaking the safety car to get on the lead lap.[55] He finished 13th inCanada and would fail to score points for the rest of the season.[53][56]
For 2018 Ericsson retained his seat at Sauber, which became the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 team in partnership with the Italian car maker. Alongside him was new teammateCharles Leclerc.[57] At theBahrain Grand Prix, Ericsson finished in ninth place, scoring his first points since the2015 Italian Grand Prix, after a total of 49 races without scoring a point.[58][59] He then scored further points at theAustrian,German,Belgian,USA andMexican Grands Prix.[60] At theItalian Grand Prix, Ericsson had a high speed accident in second practice, when hisDRS system failed, causing the car to lose control into turn 1 and slam the wall. Ericsson's car rolled three times before coming to rest on its wheels, but he was uninjured.[61]
Just before the2018 Russian Grand Prix it was announced that Ericsson was to be replaced at Sauber byAntonio Giovinazzi, but would remain with the team as their third driver and brand ambassador.[62]
Ericsson was confirmed for longer tenure with Chip Ganassi in October 2020, re-upping for at least another two seasons.[66]2021 would be Ericsson's breakout year in IndyCar. Although he had middling performances compared to teammatesScott Dixon andÁlex Palou before the2021 Indianapolis 500 Ericsson would outscore both his teammates and the entire IndyCar field following the Indianapolis 500. Ericsson scored his first win in IndyCar and his first win in any category since 2013 in GP2 when he won the first race of the doubleheader in Detroit, a race in which Ericsson benefited from the misfortune of race leaderWill Power after Power's car refused to restart during a formation lap following a red flag incident at the end of the race.[67] Ericsson finished second toJosef Newgarden atMid Ohio and picked up a second victory at the chaotic inaugural round atNashville, putting him into contention of the series title.[68] Although he would hold top-ten finishes throughout the rest of the season Ericsson would be mathematically eliminated from the championship after a sixth-place finish atLaguna Seca. Ericsson would end the season in 6th place in the driver's championship with 435 points.
Ericsson continued to show pace in his third season with Chip Ganassi Racing. He recorded his first podium finish on an oval at theXPEL 375 at theTexas Motor Speedway with a third-place finish.[69] Ericsson, sporting a helmet painted in honor of his countryman and Formula One legend,Ronnie Peterson, won the2022 Indianapolis 500 under caution after holding offPato O'Ward on a late restart.[70][71] Ericsson became the second Swedish driver to win the Indianapolis 500, afterKenny Bräck in1999.[72] Ericsson's win in the 500 plus solid early season results vaulted him into the points lead of the IndyCar Series championship for the first time in his career.[73] His title challenge continued with a six-race streak of successive top ten finishes, however a second place atRoad America ended up being the final podium of his campaign. The Swede finished sixth in the drivers' standings, being beaten narrowly by teammate Palou.
Ericsson started his 2023 campaign by winning the first race of the season inSt. Petersburg.[74] Ericsson finished second in the2023 Indianapolis 500 after being overtaken by Josef Newgarden on the final lap. Ericsson would finish 6th in the standings for the third consecutive year.[75]
^"2009 All-Japan F3 Championship".Motorsport Database – Motor Sport Magazine. 13 November 2021.Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved17 March 2022.
^Freeman, Glenn, ed. (15 October 2009). "Pit & Paddock: In Brief".Autosport.198 (3): 27.
^Graziano, Dan; Shelburne, Ramona; Merrill, Liz; Ogden, Mark; Henderson, Brady; Hensley, Jamison; Kiper, Mel Jr.; McShay, Todd (5 March 2023)."Ericsson wins rough IndyCar season-opening race".ESPN.com.Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved7 March 2023.