Sirotkin staying ‘calm’ over Williams future

Sergey Sirotkin is relaxed about his Formula 1 future as teams start to finalise their 2019 plans during the summer break.

The Russian joined Williams ahead of Robert Kubica for the 2018 season, but remains the only driver in the field who has yet to score a World Championship point.

The highest Sirotkin has finished all season so far is P13 at the Austrian Grand Prix, yet he has a pretty thankless task trying to extract performance from the FW41 – comfortably the worst car on the grid during the 2018 campaign.

As a result, the axe does not appear to be hanging over the rookie and he is also calm about continuing his stay with Williams next year.

“No one has a guarantee in Formula 1,” Sirotkin said.

“And at the same time and especially in our situation, the worst thing you can do is start thinking about the next season.

“I have a job to do, I know how to do it and I know what the team expects of me.

“I do what I do because I love it, not because I get paid. It’s not a 9 to 6 job, I do what I do because I put my whole soul into it.

“As I said, I know my role very well and how much this is appreciated within the team. As for the future, I am calm.”

Sirotkin also said that he would have still signed for Williams this season, even if he knew  the full extent of the team’s struggles.

He replied: “Yes of course.

“It’s not easy and I’m facing a situation that every driver doesn’t have to deal with. But I appreciate that I am on the team and I accept the challenge.”

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