Marcus Ericsson had just turned 28 last fall when he suddenly needed another place to race. The Sauber Formula One team had bumped him from a regular ride after he spent four years finishing mostly at the back of the pack. Ericsson wanted a job with a contender.

“Formula One has always been more of a manufacturer’s championship than a driver’s championship,” Ericsson said in a New York coffee shop on Tuesday. “If you’re not in one of the top cars, it’s tough mentally.”

Essentially locked out of advancing in F1 because there are maybe only six elite rides in the series, Ericsson had not come close to winning a race. But he had options. His best option was to join the NTT IndyCar Series in North America.

Ericsson, a native of Kumla, Sweden, signed in October to race a Honda full time in 2019 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. His first race will be Sunday, when the season opens with an event on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.