Marcus Ericsson bowed out of F1 at the end of 2018 after an underw༒helming five-year spell in the sport.

While Ericsson slowly managed to establish himself as a solid midfield driver with Sauber, five years was more than he deserved after a slow start with Caterham in 2𝓰014.

Ericsson’s ties to Swiss investment company Longbow Finance ensured he remained on the grid witꦍh them giving Sauber crucial investment to ensure it survived beyond 2016.

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Longbow’s influence even led to accusations from Felipe Nasr - Ericsson’s teammate for 2015 and 2016 - that Ericsson was getting prefe🎃rential treatment with upgrades and parts - claims that were denied by team principal Monisha Kaltenborn. 

In the🃏 end, Ericsson competed in 97 F1 grands prix over a five-year period, scoring just 18 po🍨ints.

While for the majority of♒ his career he had vastly underperforming machinery, he was out-performed by Kamui Kobayashi (2014), Felipe Nasr (2015), Pascal Wehrlein (2017) and Charles Leclerc (2018).

The Swede was finally replaced when the team was rebranded as Alfa Romeo for 2019, with the team opting for world champion Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, who had previous experience wiꦍth the team.

Perhaps Ericsson was a slow-burner with marginal gains in performance year on year as at the end of 2018, he 🐻claimed it’s "definitely been my strongest season".

"The whole year has been my best in For🌌mula 1, especially the improvement from the start of the༺ season to now," Ericsson said.

However, given Ericsson’s talent and performances relative to his teammates, five years in the pinna𓄧cle of motorsport is a fine achievement when better drivers have had significantly shorter spells.

A move stateside and💧 IndyCar would give him the chance to revive his career and showcase his talent.

Ericsson’s IndyCar move

Ericsson switched to IndyCar for 2019 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, securing a maiden podium finish at the Detro🎐it ꧃Grand Prix.

A lacklustre rookie season left him 17th in the standings but a crucial team switch for the COVID-꧟af꧂fected 2020 campaign proved crucial in his development in IndyCar.

Ericsson teamed up wi♛th 𝔍Chip Ganassi for 2020 and found much-needed consistency with regular points finishes.

2🧔021 proved to be his breakthrough year - his third season in the series - by taking his first-ever victories in Detroit and Nashville, putting him in title conte✃ntion.

Sixth in the championship was another remarkable step forward for Erඣicsson as he looked to be finally at home in IndyCar.

Could he take the next step in 2022?

Winning the biggest race of them all 

With a handful of laps to go, Ericsson found himself in the lead of the Ind𒐪y 500 with a comfortable three-second lead after overtaking the two Arrow McLaren SP cars of Fe꧂lix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward.

The victory l﷽ooked to be in the ba💦g until his team-mate Jimmie Johnson hit the wall at Turn 2 to bring out a red flag.

With just two laps of racing remaining, Ericss๊on was forced to defend aggressively from O’Ward.

Ericsson def🥀ended hard with extreme weaving measures to ensure he became the fiꩲrst Swedish driver since Kenny Brack to win the Indy 500.

“I couldn’t believe it. I felt you can never take any🗹thing for granted, and obvi𝄹ously there was two laps to go,” he said. “I was praying so hard there was not going to be another yellow, but I knew there was probably going to be one.

“It was hard to re-focus but I knew th🅘e car was amazing, the #8 crew and Chip Ganassi Racing Honda have done such a good job, so I knew the Huski Chocolate car was fast enough. But it was still hard,ꦇ you know? I had to do everything there and then to keep them behind.

“I can’t believe it. I’m so happy.”

Er🐼icsson isn’t the ♐only former F1 driver to win America’s biggest race with Takuma Sato doing so in 2020, while Alex Rossi (2016) and Juan-Pablo Montoya (2015) have also won it.

Sceptics looking in may argue that Ericsson winning the Indy 500 deva🌠lues the race given his subpar careerᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ in F1.

On the other hand, Fernando Alonso’s inability👍 to qualify in 2018 shows the size of the challenge and one that should not be undervalued.

F1 remains 🅺the pinnacle of motorsport but the Indy 500 p꧃rovides a challenge like no other.