Sergey Sirotkin rejoins Renault as reserve driver

After his one season as a front-line F1 racer with Williams last year, Renault have confirmed that Sergey Sirotkin will take up the third and reserve driver role at the Anglo-French team that he vacated in 2017.

The Russian, who scored just one point in 2018 as the Williams team struggled to get to grips with their FW41 racer, will line-up alongside imcumbent test driver Jack Aitken and development driver Guanyu Zhou, as well as Renault’s main driver line-up of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg. Sirotkin will also dovetail his Renault commitments alongside driving in the World Endurance Championship with SMP Racing.

“I am very pleased to rejoin my friends at Renault F1 Team and return to Formula 1,” said Sirotkin. “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.”

RENAULT: 2019 F1 Team Profile

“We’re very happy to reveal our full 2019 driver line-up,” said Renault Sport Racing 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.”