Another Familiar Face Returns, this Time to Renault

Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin endured a difficult season with the Williams Martini team. However, he lost his seat to Robert Kubica and George Russell. But now, Renault have thrown him a lifeline by making him third and reserve driver at team. Interestingly, he occupied that very position before but vacated it in 2017 to join Williams.

The Russian could only muster one solitary point in 2018 as the Williams team struggled to find any pace. Sirotkin will partner test driver Jack Aitken and development driver Guanyu Zhou for the coming season. He will also juggle his Renault commitments alongside his World Endurance Championship duties with SMP Racing.

“I am very pleased to rejoin my friends at Renault F1 Team and return to Formula 1,” said Sirotkin, speaking to the media. “I spent the whole of 2017 in their factory and in the garage. It will be interesting to learn how far Renault has advanced in the development of the car over the past year.”

“We’re very happy to reveal our full 2019 driver line-up,” said Renault’s Managing Director Cyril Abiteboul. “It’s a very strong and experienced team of drivers. Nico and Daniel are an exciting combination and will be strongly supported by Sergey, Jack and Guanyu.

“In Sergey’s return, we have a driver who has experienced a full season racing in Formula 1 and that knowledge will be beneficial to developing our package. Jack has also impressed us when testing our Formula 1 machinery, while Guanyu will complement the experienced team. All of them have an important role to play this season and we look forward seeing them all in action.”

Hopefully for Sirotkin, he is able to get another crack at Formula One. Earlier this year, he even tested the Mahindra Formula E car in Marrakech. He teamed up with regular test driver, Sam DeJonghe.