F1’s underrated heroes; ep. 2: Felipe Nasr

With just 39 starts to his name, ex-Sauber and Manor Racing driver Felipe Nasr certainly deserved a longer stint in F1, but there’s a story as to how this Brazilian inadvertently ended his own career.

After multiple Formula 1 test and FP1 sessions for Williams who he joined from 2014, a struggling Sauber took a chance on Nasr for 2015 and he’d impress right away as he lined up next to Marcus Ericsson.

📸Nasr testing with Williams.

On debut in Australia he qualified 11th, ahead of Ericsson and mastered his new car and in a race of attrition (and three cars non starting) to take his Sauber to fifth place on debut, sandwiched by compatriot Felipe Massa for Williams and the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, the highest position ever achieved by a debuting Brazilian in F1 history.

📸On debut in Australia.

His rookie season saw him take six points scoring finishes for the Swiss marque with a sixth place in Sochi his next highest scoring performance after his debut. He finished the season 13th overall in the standings, with teammate Ericsson 18th, with nine points compared to Nasr’s 27, a strong start indeed.

📸Nasr & Ericsson in Monaco.

2016 saw Sauber’s struggles continue, with the Sauber C35 car underperforming massively for the whole season, with Nasr scoring the only points Sauber mustered that season, once with two points taken at his home race in Brazil, and the Brazilian once again beat Ericsson.

📸Nasr in what would eventually become his final F1 race in Brazil.

The two points scored by Nasr meant Manor Racing finished behind Sauber in the championship, bankrupting the British team. It was revealed later that Nasr had been set to join Manor, meaning the two points scored for Sauber over Manor ended Nasr’s own F1 career.

Post F1, Nasr has raced in the IMSA Championship in America winning three titles in the series as well as testing regularly in IndyCar (after a failed attempt to race in the series for Carlin in 2020) and completing Formula E tests, as well as having raced in the electric series three times with two DNF’s and a non points scoring finish for GEOX Dragon.

📸Nasr celebrates an IMSA title.

One strong season, then one with a disappointing performance from his car, before curtailing his own career with his own performance, there’s no doubt Nasr deserved a longer stint in motorsport’s most famous race series.

📸What could Nasr have achieved in F1 given more time and resources?

📸Image credits: Formula Motorsport Limited, Sky Sports, Porsche Motorsport.