From Moscow karting to Formula Abarth, GP2 and a single season at Williams, where a sponsor's withdrawal ended his Formula One seat, followed by sports car racing.
Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin raced for Williams in Formula One during 2018 and scored his only championship point at Monza. He had won races in Auto GP and GP2, and later took part in endurance events such as the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Sergey Sirotkin is a Russian racing driver from Moscow who competed in Formula One for Williams in 2018. Before that he won races in Auto GP and GP2, finished third in the GP2 standings in 2015 and 2016, and took fifth place in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014. After his Williams season he moved into sports car racing, where he has raced in several endurance championships.
Who is Sergey Sirotkin?
Sergey Olegovich Sirotkin was born on 27 August 1995 in Moscow, and he began karting in 2008. He worked his way through the junior ranks to single-seaters, and he took his first championship titles in the single-seater series of the early 2010s. His studies ended in 2017 with a race car engineering degree from a Moscow university focused on automobiles and roads.
His route to Formula One ran through several categories, and his results in each one shaped the chances he later received. Most of his success came from consistent points finishes and occasional wins rather than a single breakout season.
A championship point at Monza, a Williams season cut short by a sponsor's decision, and a career that found its strongest form in endurance racing.
How did Sirotkin come up through karting and Formula Abarth?
Sirotkin began karting in 2008 and raced in international series, moving up to the KF3 and KF2 categories by 2010. At 15 he graduated to single-seaters in the newly launched Formula Abarth series in Italy, driving for Jenzer Motorsport.
He made his debut at Vallelunga, finished the first race in the points and added four more point-scoring finishes to take 18th in the championship. The following season he switched to Euronova Racing by Fortec before the round at Spa, and he won the European Series title with a race to spare. He took five wins in fourteen races, and in the Italian Series he finished runner-up with two victories.
What did Sirotkin's 2012 Auto GP season show?
In 2012 Sirotkin continued with Euronova Racing in the Auto GP World Series. At Monza he qualified on the front row, losing pole to Adrian Quaife-Hobbs by just 0.04 seconds, and he finished fourth in the second race after stalling at the start of the first.
At Valencia he passed Quaife-Hobbs before the first corner and took his first win, becoming the youngest Auto GP winner in the process. He then set a record of four consecutive fastest laps, beating the mark previously held by Romain Grosjean. He also set the fastest lap in both races at Monza. He finished the season third overall behind Quaife-Hobbs and Pal Varhaug, with two race wins, at Valencia and Sonoma, and seven podiums. He also took his first pole position at the Marrakech Street Circuit.
How did Sirotkin perform in Italian Formula 3?
In 2012 he also contested the Italian Formula Three Championship for Euronova. He won at the Hungaroring and Monza and added four more podiums over the season.
He scored points in twenty-two of the twenty-four races. Retirement from the second race at Vallelunga and a disqualification from the third race at Monza kept him from a full set, and he finished fifth overall in both the European and Italian Series championships.
How did Sirotkin's Formula Renault 3.5 career develop?
His Formula Renault 3.5 debut came at Moscow Raceway, where Nikolay Martsenko was his BVM Target team-mate. He came twentieth in the first race and retired from the second.
In 2013 he contested a full season with ISR Racing, with podiums at Alcaniz and the Hungaroring, and he finished ninth overall. The following year he moved to Fortec Motorsport alongside Oliver Rowland.
In 2014 he took his first pole position and won his first Formula Renault 3.5 race at Moscow Raceway. The second Fortec car often broke down, and he failed to finish five races, but whenever he finished he usually scored points. He ended the season fifth overall with 132 points.
Why were Sirotkin's GP2 seasons significant?
He joined the GP2 Series with Rapax in February 2015 and won the feature race at Silverstone, a circuit he had never raced on before. He added four more podiums that year and finished third overall in the standings as a rookie.
In 2016 he moved to defending champions ART Grand Prix. A spin and stall at the Barcelona opener and a crash from pole at Monaco set back his start, but he converted his pace into results at Baku, where he took two podiums in the feature and sprint races. He also took a double podium at the Hungaroring and won the feature race at Hockenheim, before finishing second at Sepang and third at Abu Dhabi.
He finished tied on points with Raffaele Marciello and was classified third because he had more wins. At Spielberg he had taken pole but was given a ten-second penalty for failing to re-establish his starting position before the safety car line.
How did Sirotkin reach Formula One?
In July 2013 Sirotkin joined the Sauber Formula One team to take part in Friday sessions, with the aim of making his race debut and a full seat for 2014. He stayed as a test driver in 2014. In April that year, at Bahrain, he completed 75 laps and more than 300 kilometres, recording the eighth fastest time, which gave him a superlicence.
He made his free practice debut at the 2014 Russian Grand Prix, where he set the 17th fastest time, four-tenths slower than Adrian Sutil. Sauber did not offer him a contract for 2015 because the team changed its structure and chose drivers with stronger financial backing.
In April 2016 he became a development driver for Renault and took part in the first practice session of the Russian Grand Prix. He was reserve driver for 2017, and he ran in free practice at the Russian, Spanish, Austrian and Malaysian Grands Prix. He also won positive feedback from Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul.
What was Sirotkin's 2018 season at Williams like?
After the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Sirotkin took a half-day test with Williams at Yas Marina. The team was impressed by his pace, technical feedback and work ethic, and in January 2018 Williams announced him as Lance Stroll's teammate, replacing Felipe Massa, who had retired.
He qualified 19th for his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, but the race ended early after a sandwich bag got into the brake system of his car. In Bahrain and China he out-qualified Stroll, though he finished just behind him in fifteenth place.
At Baku he reached the second qualifying segment for the first time and qualified 12th, but a first-lap squeeze between cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso damaged his front-left suspension. At Spain a collision with Sergio Perez brought a three-place grid penalty, and he was last across the line after a seat problem during the race.
At Monaco he was given a ten-second stop-and-go penalty after his tyres were not fitted in time for the start, and he finished second last. Williams had the slowest car in Canada, where he finished 17th, and he was the last driver to cross the line at the French, Austrian and British Grands Prix.
How did Sirotkin score his first point in Formula One?
The first point came at the Italian Grand Prix in 2018. He finished eleventh but was promoted to tenth when Romain Grosjean was disqualified for technical infringements, giving him his first World Championship point.
He improved again at Spa, where he came home 12th in front of Stroll after a clash with Valtteri Bottas at the start. He also out-qualified Stroll at Singapore, although a damaged front wing and a blocking penalty left him last.
The Russian home race went badly, as he was boxed in by Sainz and Ericsson and dropped to the back once more. In Japan he finished one place ahead of Stroll. In the United States he beat Stroll in qualifying and race, and in Brazil he surpassed him again.
Why did Sirotkin leave Williams?
Before the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix it was announced that he would not race for Williams in 2019. His backer SMP Racing decided to end the partnership because of a lack of performance and development in the car.
He was penultimate in qualifying, ahead of Stroll, but lost a place at the start, suffered overheating, and finished last in the race. His only championship point of the season had come at Monza.
What did Sirotkin do after Formula One?
In 2019 he served as reserve driver for both McLaren and Renault, and he continued with Renault as reserve in 2020. Formula One was therefore only part of his career, and sports car racing took over from there.
In 2017 he also returned to a Formula 2 car for a single round at Baku, replacing the injured Alexander Albon at ART Grand Prix, and he scored points in both races. In 2020 he went back to Formula 2 for pre-season testing with ART, replacing the quarantined Christian Lundgaard.
In 2017 he was part of the SMP Racing crew at Le Mans with Mikhail Aleshin and Viktor Shaytar, and the car ended up 36 laps adrift of the LMP2 class winner. In 2019 he drove an LMP1 BR1 with Stephane Sarrazin and Egor Orudzhev, and the latter crashed mid-race. In 2020 he signed for AF Corse to drive a factory-supported Ferrari 488 GT3 in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.
Since leaving Formula One he has raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge Europe and the Intercontinental GT Challenge, and in 2025 he competed in the Middle East Trophy for SMP.
