Following the confirmation of Robert Kubica as a 2019 Williams driver, Sergey Sirotkin’s backers have revealed they pulled their support from the British team.
It was a strong test 12 months ago in Abu Dhabi plus financial support from SMP Racing which gave the Russian the nod over the Pole for this season.
However, after what is set to be Williams’ third worst year in their history in terms of points scored, that money was withdrawn for 2019.
“We took the decision not to continue participating in the Formula 1 world championship in the joint project with the Williams Martini Racing team,” said SMP Racing chief Boris Rotenberg.
“We were unpleasantly surprised by the team’s performance level at the start of the season, and the car’s development rate also turned out to be not high enough.
“Despite this, Sergey managed a good season in the circumstances, gave his 100% and fully accomplished the tasks set in front of him.
“We are satisfied with his work and are currently evaluating options for his racing career going forward.”
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Sirotkin has had a reasonable rookie season, out-qualifying teammate Lance Stroll over the season even if he has just a sole point on the board, coming after Romain Grosjean’s disqualification at Monza.
“Unfortunately I will not be competing in Formula 1 next year,” he wrote on social media.
“It was a very long and difficult year, and not everything turned out the way I wanted it to but I kept working, put all my effort and my soul into achieving the merited results.
“To be honest, I believe that given the circumstances we have done a respectable job.”