Sirotkin still aiming for F1 future

Sergey Sirotkin says he hasn't given up his hopes of returning to Formula One in the future. The Russian was dropped by Williams in favour of Robert Kubica after a difficult 2018 season with an underperforming car.

Set to drive for SMP Racing this year in the World Endurance Championship, Sirotkin admitted that whilst he knows an immediate return to Formula One is unlikely, a return in the future is not off the table yet.

“The main target which is probably more of a long-term target now is obviously to come back to the F1 grid,” he told formulaspy.com.

“It’s still too early to say how easy or how possible that is to achieve but that’s the medium-to-long term target.

“Here for now all I know is I will have to do a few races in WEC in LMP1 with the SMP team, probably one which is next month already in the USA so I will have something to drive.

“Then depending on other opportunities and other possible races this probably can be shorter or wider or more diverse. I’m still in quite early points of discussions so it’s not like I know right here right now what I’m doing.”

Sirotkin also confirmed that a future in Formula E was an option. The ex-Williams driver took part in the Marrakech test after the E-Prix with Mahindra, finishing eighth and eleventh in the morning and afternoon sessions respectively.

“Just before the new year I got a sudden phone call from the team to take part, which was one of the interesting directions for me after F1 so I was happy to take it.

“To be honest it’s my first day here where I’ve met the team and the people so I’m kind of trying to relate what exactly what the goals of the test are and what the team wants me to do. For the next few days it’s Formula E, which again will be interesting to see what it is because long-term it’s something interesting.”