Title hopeful Rosenqvist says FE his best shot of earning F1 chance

The Swedish driver is second in the FE points, behind ex-F1 driver Jean-Eric Vergne, after two wins from the first four races of the 2017/18 season.

Rosenqvist won the European Formula 3 title in 2015 and has two Macau Grand Prix successes to his name, but his junior single-seater career did not move beyond F3 because of a lack of budget.

After a bit-part Mercedes GT and DTM campaign in 2016 he starred as an FE rookie in 2016/17, winning in Berlin, and has established himself as one of the frontrunners of the current campaign.

"I made it quite clear this is the championship I want to be in now," Rosenqvist told Autosport.

"I think it's my best shot at going to Formula 1 if there's any chance left.

"It's where the best drivers are right now outside of F1. As long as you can beat those you should be good enough, right?

"That's what I'm thinking on my career path. I'm still young enough to go to F1 so I shouldn't give up on that.

"I find this is the best place to be rather than DTM or F2 or IndyCar."

If Rosenqvist was able to earn an F1 opportunity, he would not be the first driver to race in FE before making his grand prix debut.

Red Bull protege Pierre Gasly stood in for Sebastien Buemi at the Renault e.dams in New York last July, prior to earning an F1 graduation with the Toro Rosso team.

Rosenqvist already in FE title mode

Rosenqvist trails Vergne by five points in the FE title point after losing the championship lead in Santiago last weekend.

While Vergne won from pole position, Rosenqvist fought his way from 14th on the grid to finish fourth after making a set-up mistake ahead of qualifying.

Despite that lowly starting position he was part of a fraught five-car fight for the win in the closing laps, but opted to play it safe to secure points for the championship.

"It put me in a position where I could fight for the win in the end but I didn't really feel like joining that crazy fight," he said.

"I was only thinking about the championship.

"Maybe if I was starting P3 it would be different because you have a position to take back, but coming from zero points and being at 12 already I decided to check out with what I had.

"That was the right decision."