A third point-scoring result of the season could not have come at a better time for Marcus Ericsson as he admits he is fighting for his future at Sauber...

Ericsson is in his fourth season with the Swiss team, but the last two failed to deliver a point for the Swede, as he struggled with the team’s uncompetitive C35 and C36 cars. This year, a much stronger Sauber has been led by rookie Charles Leclerc – who has scored 13 points so far – but Ericsson brought his own personal tally up to five with a strong ninth place at Hockenheim.

“I was aiming for points, I knew I could do it,” Ericsson said after starting from 13th, with Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo behind him. “Starting on softs, I had a very clear plan to do a long first stint, very close to how I did in Austria [where Ericsson finished 10th], to be a bit offset to everyone and just try and long run the soft and then be punchy at the end with fresh tyres.

“That’s exactly how I did it in Austria and I feel like that’s one of our and my biggest strengths, that I can be quite good on the tyres and keep them alive for quite long. That’s exactly what happened again. People start boxing and struggling again with the tyres, so after about 25 or 30 laps they box and I get free track and I can really put in some good lap times and really make a difference.

“Then you have that advantage for the end of the race. The rain came which mixed things up but even without the rain we could have had a strong second half, I think, and even fought for points without the rain. That’s our strength, now I need to work on my weakness, which is the qualifying, so that’s where we need to find some performance.”