Sergei Sirotkin announced his retirement

Former Formula 1 driver Sergei Sirotkin has announced his retirement. In 2018, Sergey Sirotkin spent a full season with the Williams, earning one point in the Monza stage.

In 2019, Sergey signed a contract as reserve driver for McLaren and Renault, and in 2020 he continued to work with the French team, taking part in tests of 18-inch tires. In May 2022, Sirotkin took over the position of Executive Director of the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF).

“I’d like to answer one of your most frequently asked questions: is it worth waiting for my full return to racing? – Sergey Sirotkin wrote on social networks. – Imagine, I am 23 years old, my career in Formula 1, or rather the dream I have strived for all my life has ended, it is no more. As a sensible person and moreover who is very concerned about some global problems in our lives, I suddenly realize that my highest achievements in life are already behind me, and I am only 23. It is easy to write now, but believe me, at this point it was very difficult to realize.

Of course after the season in Formula 1 there were many very strong races and even at one point very good career prospects in other series. But somehow all this led me to think that in sport I would not be able to achieve greater results than the ones that had already been achieved. It was a turning point when I realized that I need to look wider and not limit my own growth and my achievements to a pure racing career.

Because I really love motorsport, and not only the races themselves, but also the technical side of it, I really wanted to achieve great goals and objectives in this area. That’s why I founded my own racing academy, because even then I saw that neither in Russia nor in the world as such, there is a competent education system in motorsport. To this day we are in the process of creating and replenishing the ecosystem that we have in the academy, and after that there are many more related projects going on that focus on the development of motorsport, driver training, the technical component and so on .

Following roughly the same scenario, I was fortunate enough to take up the position of Executive Director of the RAF. But the most important thing is to get great experience and new knowledge, to meet a huge number of amazing people, with whom we still do new and cool things.

Pain and the realization that the best is behind us became the best motivator for me to prove otherwise and remain so to this day. I am thankful to fate that she once pushed me to make the right decisions.

Finally, I’ll answer the question posed at the very beginning of this text: Will I return to racing? The answer is no, I should not be expected in the race. As much as I like pilots, I don’t see it as a real opportunity for development, even in the medium term. Therefore, I see no reason to spend time and effort on this, which could be much more useful if directed in a different direction.