Sirotkin safe at Renault despite Vassuer departure

Sergey Sirotkin will continue his development at Renault despite the departure of Frederic Vassuer, SMP boss Boris Rotenberg confirmed.

SMP, who backs Sirotkin’s Formula 1 career, affirmed onlookers that his Russian driver will get more time on the track in 2017, just like Vasseur intended for him before he left.

Rotenberg, though, revealed that they have yet to meet meet with the rest of the Renault heirachy to discuss  the 21-year-old’s future.

"His programme is not changing – it's just that in Renault there was a change of the head of the [F1] programme, but for him everything will remain as is,” he told Motorsport.com.

"We're planning that it'll go on the same way – and we'll announce the specifics of his Formula 1 programme in a separate presentation.

"Regarding Vasseur – we met him, had talks. Now we will have a meeting with the new Renault chief.

"Vasseur himself confirmed that nothing would be changing in our relationship with Renault, but we still have to see the [new] boss and make sure the terms remain the same as had been agreed."