Sweden has had many succesfull Formula One drivers in the past. Marcus Ericsson was the last Swedish Formula One driver. He was active as a driver from 2014 until 2018. In 2019 Marcus was only reserve (or 3rd driver) and never raced that year in F1. Marcus was the first since 23 years after Stefan Johansson took part in a Grand Prix Formula One.
Who were those Swedish Formula One drivers?
Jo Bonnier (1956 – 1971)
Ronnie Peterson (1970 – 1978)
Reine Wisell (1970 – 1974)
Bertil Roos (1974)
Torsten Palm (1975)
Gunnar Nilsson (1976 – 1977)
Conny Andersson (1976 – 1977)
Slim Borgudd (1981 – 1982)
Stefan Johansson (1980 – 1991)
Marcus Ericsson (2014 – 2018)
2014 – Marcus Ericsson – Caterham CT05 – Australian GP
How about the Swedish Grand Prix Formula One?
Buoyed by the success and popularity of their drivers (and in particular Ronnie Peterson), Sweden hosted six rounds of the world championship in the Seventies, all of them at Anderstorp.
The Scandinavian Raceway, as it was also known, was built on reclaimed marshland in the late Sixties and featured an extremely long straight (named ‘Flight Straight’ because it also served as a runway) and several banked corners. Peterson very nearly recorded a fairy-tale win in the first race in 1973, but sadly a deflating tyre robbed him of victory.
In the years that followed, the popular racer never quite managed to secure the victory the home fans craved, but at least Swedish supporters got to witness the only wins for two of F1 racing’s most controversial cars.
In 1976, Jody Scheckter drove Tyrrell’s six-wheeled P34 to victory, and in the final race in 1978 Niki Lauda took P1 in Brabham’s notorious BT46B ‘fan car’.
1976 – Jody Scheckter – Tyrrell P34 – Anderstorp Victory
1978 – Niki Lauda – Brabham BT46 – Anderstorp Victory
1978 – Niki Lauda – Brabham BT46 – Anderstorp Victory
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