Publications
Partners
Mika Salo is not sure Sauber has made the right choice for 2019.
The former Formula 1 driver was commenting on the news that the Swiss team has ousted Marcus Ericsson - who is staying in the reserve role - and replaced him for next year with Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi.
'I'm sorry he lost his place'
Many have hailed the move as a triumph of talent over Ericsson's pay-driver dollars and links to the Sauber ownership.
READ: Antonio Giovinazzi named Kimi Raikkonen's team mate at Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team in 2019
"I'm not really surprised, but I wanted Ericsson to continue. I'm sorry that he lost his place," Salo told C More broadcaster.
He said a question mark lingers over Italian Giovinazzi after his one-off performances replacing injured Pascal Wehrlein last year.
'He broke a lot of cars'
Salo said: "I don't know any more about him, but those few performances were pretty unfortunate. He broke a lot of cars. He can probably race well as it was a difficult situation for him. Perhaps he wasn't ready and now he is."
Salo said the deal does make sense for other reasons: "It looks as though they wanted a young driver to learn alongside Kimi.
"And for Sauber you can see that they are working closely with Ferrari. The car is being developed in the same direction as Ferrari to keep improving the results."