“Emotional race” for Nasr after first points

2015 Australian Grand Prix

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Felipe Nasr described his fifth place for Sauber in his first grand prix as a “big relief” for him and his team.

Sauber endured the first point-less campaign in their history last year, and began the first race of 2015 under a cloud after missing the first practice session due to a legal row with Giedo van der Garde.

However the team got finished the race with both cars in the points – Marcus Ericsson came in eighth – which put them third in the championship at this early stage.

“I am very happy with fifth position in my first ever Formula One race,” said Nasr.

“It is such a big relief for the team and myself that we are able to score points, and I am very pleased about this achievement.”

Nasr was fortunate to avoid major damage at the start of the race when he made contact with Pastor Maldonado.

“Right after the start it was quite messy in turn one, as another driver hit my wheel,” he explained. “I thought the car was damaged a bit, but after a few laps I noticed everything was fine.”

“After that, the race went according to plan. There was pressure from behind during the whole race, which was not easy. That was an emotional race for me and everyone in the team.”

2015 Australian Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    41 comments on ““Emotional race” for Nasr after first points”

    1. The kid has a bright future

      1. Was Nasr’s first race the best race result from a rookie since Lewis Hamilton’s 3rd in 2007?

        1. @mreis
          No. Kmag last year was second in his first race with McLaren

      2. Fingers crossed.

    2. Usually the Australian GP is the most “opportunistic” race of the season. It gave many unexpected podiums and results in the past. Many small teams seize the opportunity to gather precious points at the expense of big players’ trouble in the season-opener. Very fortunate for Sauber to profit from this chaotic race and gather such a crucial handful of poins . Nice job from Nasr, hope it’s not an one-off brilliant performance “a la Magnussen” last year.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        15th March 2015, 12:11

        @klaas, I agree that Ericsson’s 8th position can be regarded as opportunistic (or lucky).

        But Nasr’s finish is totally deserved. He raced to that position and I cannot see which of the non-finishers besides Bottas could have passed him. Raikkonen not because of 2 stopping; Kvyat, not if Ricciardo couldn’t. Sainz/Verstappen not as the Toro Rosso does not seem that fast yet, Sainz could not leave Ericsson behind, and Verstappen fell too far behind on the mediums. The Lotuses do not seem to be at that speed either.

        1. Actually, Kimi was already a couple of seconds ahead of Nasr after the 2nd stop, so he would’ve definately stayed ahead of him.
          But you’re absolutely right about the others, even Ricciardo didn’t have a chance against Nasr.

        2. By opportunistic I don’t mean undeserved. It’s their merit for having a reliable car and trouble-free pitstops. Had Bottas raced and without Kimi’s retirement they would have amassed much less points. So I repeat – good for them to seize their chance amid their rivals’ problems.

        3. No, Ericsson’s 8th place is far from lucky. Ericssons target was to keep the tires alive for the rest of the race which ment he had to drive a bit slower than he could, trying to keep them alive. But they had to give up this and pit him with only a few laps to go, and then he catched Sainz Jr and overtook him in a very good way, so I don’t think it was a lucky position for neither of the cars who finished the race.

    3. He did finish ahead of Ricciardo, brilliant job

      1. I agree, holding off Ricciardo was an achievement, especially in Nasr’s first race

        1. Lets hope this is not a “one-race wonder.”

          1. He’ll have more opposition next time – Alonso, Bottas, Kvyat and Grosjean should still be around at the start! And McLaren won’t be rubbish for ever.

    4. Great effort from himself and Sauber, having missed FP1 due to the court issues with Van der Garde!

    5. My driver of the weekend.

        1. Great Nasr.
          10 points in his debut. better than him, only magnussen with McLaren last year

    6. The distance to Ericsson was proof of the pudding.. if Bottas can’t race in Malaysia, then surely Williams would want their previous development driver back, to match him against Massa in a race situation (to test for replacing him once he retires), while Sauber would be very obliging as this gives them a chance to run Van der Garde/Ericsson and dig themselves slightly out of a legal hole (or securing better terms with VDG).

      This might be quashed if there is some substance to VDG/McGregor taking an equity stake in the team and the matter is already settled, or bring it on sooner who knows!

      1. The fuzz I think it’s all about VDG need money for his Manor seat. And the agreement made it possible for Manor to accomplish the Malaysian race..

        1. Makes more sense if Ericsson moves to Manor after a cash settlement..
          vd Garde wants to secure his Sauber seat – especially now that Sauber is more competitive. He is in a strong position to secure just that.
          In addition, Monisha needs to go if Sauber wants to clean the dirt which was caused under her supervision.

          1. VDG is the one connected with Manor. Not Ericsson

          2. MER was called to Australia on short notice cause VDG didn’t have his financial backing ready yet. MER is only contracted for 1-2 races.

      2. The dinstance could have been much less, because Ericsson was driving for a one-stop and hold back much of his speed, something that he had to give up and pit for new tires. After that, he was even matching Hamiltons pace and posted the 4th fastest lap of the race, so you should mind Ericsson in the future, remember that he was often faster than Nasr in GP2!

      3. great point mate. williams should bring nasr back if bottas still unwell. then let vdg temporary drives for sauber.

        this case can be reality if williams not put lynn replacing bottas.

    7. Filipe Nasr is going places!

      1. Simon (@weeniebeenie)
        15th March 2015, 15:11

        He sure is. Malaysia, China, Bahrain….

        1. Brilliant

    8. He was exquisite all weekend long. Consistent and quick and a little bit more experienced than the other rookies. I pick him as the best rookie this year.

      1. Its a great case of development as a way to improve talent, given that the talent is there to begin with. British F3 and GP2 are the series young drivers who want to make it to F1 go to for a reason. Because its where you get to learn your racecraft.

        I know Dr. Marko is very aggressive in promoting guys from WSR and lower to STR because the treats STR like GP2.

        Nasr is going to impress everyone because unlike a lot of these other guys he has already had a lot of relatively “big” races on F1 race weekends and on F1 tracks. Racing at Monte Carlo even in GP2 gives you a feel to how F1 will be in the future.

    9. It’s going to be hard to justify that having him sit on the sidelines will be the right thing to do after this performance.

      He buried the “useless pay-driver” narrative that’s been hovering over him for months, completely outpacing Ericsson all weekend, as I had expected.

      1. Ericsson didn’t drive P1, he made 4 laps in P2 and had a technical problem in P3 and a braking problem in qualifying, so I think Ericsson did a good job, finished 8th and posting the 4th fastest lap of the race.

        1. Renan Martinuzzo
          16th March 2015, 2:11

          Nah. Ericsson doesn’t have the pace to be in F1.
          He had a full year of experience in F1 and on day one he was slower than Nasr. Everyone who drove a Caterham beat Ericsson last year.

          It is useles to defend this guy. He is not even a paydriver. He’s more of a gentlement driver.

    10. Nasr is a huge talent, we knew that ahead of time. And lucky for him he also brings in lots of money….
      The icing on the cake for him is that the Sauber is a decent car.

    11. Renato Oliveira
      15th March 2015, 21:18

      Oh soo great seeing all jaded comments fading away.
      Talent shuts all empty critics easily.

    12. Absolutley amazing job by Nasr, but you should not count away Marcus already. I’m from Sweden and gets a lot of information from his manager – who are also commentating the F1 races here at Swedish Television.

      Ericsson missed out both P1 and P2, and had technical problems during P3 and qualifying. In the race – the plan was a one stop-race, so Marcus had to hold back through the race to make the tires last for the entire race, but when they realized that was not going to work, Marcus had to pit and all the slow laps were thrown away. He actually ended the race really good, driving up from last (12th) place to finish 8th, scoring his first F1 points (first for a Swedish driver since 1989! Love it!) and actually doing the 4th fastest lap of the race.

      Remember that Nasr and Ericsson were just as fast in GP2.

      1. Renan Martinuzzo
        16th March 2015, 2:19

        I get that you’re from Sweden. And you want Sweden to go well in F1. I respect that.
        I remember myself cheering for B. Senna just because he was Ayrton’s nephew. But, at the end of the day, he was never good enought to be in F1.

        The same goes for Ericsson. He was off the pace. His 4th fastest lap isn’t impressive as he was one of the few drivers with a new tire at the end. But just as brazilian commenters always found reasons to say why Rubens was slower than Michael (and Button), why Massa was slower than Alonso (and Bottas), your national TV with the driver´s manager as a commentator will find inumerous reasons to explain Marcus’ lack of pace in GP2 or F1.

        I hope Ericsson inspires new Swedish talents to come to F1.

        1. I get your point, and to be honest – I really don’t think that Marcus has the pace to win a world championship. But come on guys, this man is absolutley NOT as bad as some of you suggests.

          Well, at least he inspires me but I have a long way to go, racing karts ;)

    13. one swallow does not a summer make

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