Formula 1: Best driver of 2018 will not return in 2019
By Asher Fair
The driver who is set to be voted the best driver of the 2018 Formula 1 season, Williams Martini Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin, will not have a ride in the 2019 season.
Williams Martini Racing’s Sergey Sirotkin is poised to win Sky Sports’ Best Driver poll for the 2018 Formula 1 season. He currently has a lead of over 34,000 votes (~77,000 to ~43,000) over second place Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, this year’s champion, with the voting being set to conclude this weekend.
In fact, no driver aside of Hamilton has even half the number of votes that the 23-year-old Russian has earned in this poll so far.
Sirotkin has not had an impressive rookie season whatsoever. That said, Russian collusion is certainly not behind the fact that he has dominated this poll. Instead, Facebook groups are, as the members of a number of humor-based Formula 1 Facebook groups have united to vote for him solely for comical purposes.
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
Through the first 20 races of the 21-race season, Sirotkin has recorded just one top 10 finish. This lone top 10 finish was his 10th place finish in the 14th race of the season, the Italian Grand Prix. He scored one point as a result of this finish, and he has not scored any other points this season.
Sirotkin’s lone point-scoring performance was not even originally a point-scoring performance, as he originally finished the race in 11th place. The post-race disqualification of Haas’ Romain Grosjean, who finished the race in sixth, promoted Sirotkin to 10th.
As a result of the fact that he has only scored one point so far this season, Sirotkin currently sits in 20th (last) place in the driver standings. His average finish of 15.55 is the lowest among all of the sport’s drivers.
That said, no one can deny the fact that Sirotkin is set to win Sky Sports’ Best Driver of 2018 poll, as voted on by the fans. However, he is not set to return to Formula 1 next season, meaning that the sport’s “best driver” will not have a ride in 2019.
In October, Williams announced that George Russell would replace Lance Stroll at the team beginning next year. They have since confirmed that their second driver is set to be Robert Kubica, who has not competed in the sport since the 2010 season. He spent this season as the reserve driver for the Grove-based team.
As a result, Sirotkin, who landed his ride with Williams this season largely due to his substantial financial backing from SMP Racing, will not be one of the 20 drivers on the grid next season.
Next. Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of all-time. dark
What are your thoughts on Sergey Sirotkin not being set to return to Formula 1 in the 2019 season? Polls aside, how good of a driver do you believe he is? How well would he do driving for a team other than Williams, which have been by far the sport’s team this year?