Dmitry Samorukov said there was no point in getting just a one-year contract with the Williams Martini Racing team for Sergey Sirotkin, feeling it was important to see the Russian signed on a multiple year deal with the Grove-based team.
Samorukov, the chief executive of SMP Racing, Sirotkin’s primary backers, said the plan was to get the twenty-two-year-old onto the grid for a number of years, with the conclusion of the Williams contract talks confirming his presence on the Formula 1 grid for more than just the solitary season.
“We knew that there was no point in signing a contract just for one year, in terms of Sergey’s work with the team and with the car,” said Samorukov at a Williams-SMP Racing event in Moscow.
“Our programme is designed for more than a year. We have very flexible terms in the deal, but it’s definitely ‘one-plus’.”
Samorukov admitted they thought Sirotkin had a chance of taking the Williams seat not long after Felipe Massa announced his retirement from the sport, and it was not just the case of the Russian turning up for the test session in Abu Dhabi and putting in a surprise performance.
“We understood that Williams was going to be one of the best options, and we were intentionally targeting, and preparing for, the Abu Dhabi test,” said Samorukov.
“It’s definitely not just that Sergey showed up, set a good time, they spotted him and now he has the seat. That was more the culmination of the work done up to that point.”
