Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver, Marcus Ericsson said that Robert Wickens was helpful of him ahead of the race in the streets of St. Petersburg.
The Swedish driver praised Wickens for his incredible recovery, from the injuries he suffered after a horrific and violent crash at Pocono last year.
Marcus said that, “We all – the whole team, including myself – I was super happy to see Robbie there [in St. Petersburg].
"He’s a big inspiration with the fight he’s doing at the moment”
“He’s keeping his spirits high, and just having him there with us was just a huge boost for everyone. That was really, really positive.”
Ericsson previously raced in Formula 1 for Sauber F1 team, and switched to IndyCar in 2019. The Swede, who has raced on European racing facilities throughout his junior career, found his transition to American series quite difficult.
But he believes that Wickens' suggestions, input and advices helped him learn some of the basics ahead of the raceday. With the presence of the blindingly quick Canadian driver in the paddock, Marcus Ericsson found all the "little details" that Wickens was going through, quite helpful.
“And also, more on a technical way, he was very helpful for me – especially in the days before the race,”
“There were so many things to get in your head before the first race, which is different than [what] I’m used to.”
Robert Wickens himself has extensively raced in European series, so much so that he finished a remarkable 2nd in the 2010 GP3 series. His other endeavors include racing in Formula Renault 3.5 as well as the German DTM series.
“There I was, sitting down with Robbie for 15 minutes on race day, and going through different things that he had experienced,
"His loss here on the first race; about restarts; about pit-out, pit-in; and how he worked with the different tools in the car,”
“All these small details… he was going through them from his memory from last year, and he was so helpful for me.
“It really helped me to have the strong race that I had; definitely a lot of things that Robbie contributed to.
"It was really good"
"We all hope that he will join in more races this year. His experience and knowledge are very valuable for us.”
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