Sidepodcast - All for F1 and F1 for all

Who are they, anyway - Mercedes young drivers - Mike Conway and Marcus Ericsson earn some time in an F1 car

Published by Christine

As we continue our quest to find out more about the young drivers who will be testing in Formula 1 machinery at Jerez next week, we turn our attention to the Mercedes drivers. We looked at the Toro Rosso duo yesterday, but now it's time to have a look at the former Brawn GP team.

Mike Conway

Mike Conway
  • Age: 26
  • Nationality: British
  • F1 Experience: Test driver for Honda Racing in 2007.
  • Notable Achievements: 1st in British Formula Renault 2004, 1st in British F3 2006, 12th in GP2 2008, 17th in IndyCar 2009

Conway is relatively old for the young driver test, and has been linked with Honda test driver roles for quite a few years now. His career has progressed through Formula Ford and Formula Renault, to GP2 and he made the switch to IndyCar this year. He had a mixed season with just one third place podium towards the end of the season. He also had quite the crash during practice for the Indy 500 and was taken to hospital with concussion worries.

He's managed by 2MB - the company formed by Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell - and has links with the previous incarnation of this team. He's currently scheduled to run for three days, sharing each with Ericsson.

Marcus Ericsson

Marcus Ericsson
  • Age: 19
  • Nationality: Swedish
  • F1 Experience: None
  • Notable Achievements: 1st in Formula BMW UK 2007, 1st in Japanese Formula Three 2009, 4th Macau Grand Prix 2009

I can't seem to find any reference to Ericsson in terms of previous Formula 1 experience, so this may be his first time in an F1 car - and what a way to start, with a championship winning team. At the moment, Ericsson is competing in the 2009-10 GP2 Asia series, with events at Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.

He's so far finished 11th and 12th during the Formula 1 support race in Abu Dhabi. Not great, but at least he is getting experience of F1 tracks. Previously his British Formula Three outings saw him race at Monza, Spa, Silverstone and Hockenheim as well.

Marcus is currently scheduled to test alongside Conway for all three days of the Jerez test.

All content in the series Jerez Testing December 2009