Sergey Sirotkin

Sergey Sirotkin started his karting career aged 13 in 2008 progressing through the junior ranks to the KF3 and KF2 ranks by 2010. At 15, the Russian driver switched to single seater racing in the Formula Abarth series in Italy and in his second season won the European title thanks in part to five wins from 14 races.

In 2012 the Russian joined the Auto GP championship and thoroughly impressed with third place with two wins and seventh further podiums in his rookie year combined with campaigns in the Italian Formula 3 series and a one-off outing in the Formula Renault 3.5 series.

A full-time move to the Renault-support junior category saw Sirotkin endure a somewhat inconsistent year with just two podiums to finish the season ninth overall in 2013. A second year in the series and a switch to Fortec Motorsports provided improvements as the Russian ended the season fifth with a victory and three further podiums. In 2014 Sirotkin was also named Sauber F1 test driver and picked up his FIA Superlicence while also making his practice debut on home soil in Sochi.

2015 marked a switch for Sirotkin who moved to Renault as reserve driver on its return to F1 as a fully-fledged manufacturer while he also made his GP2 Series debut. A maiden GP2 Series win came just nine races into his rookie year and with four further podiums he finished an impressive third in the drivers’ championship.

A move to defending GP2 Series champions ART Grand Prix in 2016 saw Sirotkin’s title challenge fall short again in third place while he kept his reserve role at Renault F1 which gave him two further free practice outings in Russia and Brazil.

In 2017, Sirotkin was forced into a year out of full-time racing with no clear path to an F1 race seat as he remained Renault’s reserve driver with test duties and four free practice chances. The Russian driver also made his Le Mans 24 Hours debut with SMP Racing in the LMP2 class plus a Formula 2 outing in Azerbaijan as a replacement for the injured Alexander Albon at former team ART Grand Prix.

Sirotkin entered 2018 as a favourite to replace Felipe Massa at Williams in F1 after impressing at the Abu Dhabi tyre test after the 2017 season finale, with his appointment being confirmed by Williams in the new year. The Russian's big break failed to give him the chance to flourish as he may have hoped, though, as Williams ailed to one of the worst seasons in its history. Sirotkin was regularly a match for teammate Lance Stroll, but scored just one point all year long, and was dropped by the team to make way for an all-new line-up in 2019. Sirotkin will remain in F1 circles, but is set to reunite with primary backer SMP Racing's in-house programme in sports cars for the time being.