Abu Dhabi test 'changed everything' for Sirotkin

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New Williams F1 driver Sergey Sirotkin has described how last year's post-season test at Abu Dhabi ended up changing his life.

Heading into the test, Sirotkin was just one of a number of drivers in contention for the 2018 race seat - Robert Kubica was seen as the frontrunner. But that all changed afterwards.

"It lifted me up a lot. I really began to believe in this opportunity after the test," he told Motorsport.com in an exclusive interview this week.

"Not even because of the results, but because of the reaction I saw within the team," he continued.

"I just saw the the way the tech crew reacted to the result, and to how the whole day had gone. How the preparations had gone, to the work that we did on the simulator afterwards.

"You could say that I realised I did do my job well, and that my chances were much higher than they seemed initially."

Lowe: Sirotkin 'couldn't be in better shape for F1'

In the end, Sirotkin did indeed win out over Kubica. That put paid to what would have been a fairytale comeback for the Pole, who sustained life-changing injuries in a rally accident in 2011 which curtailed his burgeoning Formula 1 career.

Kubica has subsequently been named as the team's official reserve and development driver. Sirotkin said there was no tension or animosity between them as a result of the outcome.

"Myself and Robert, we're talking here," he said. "He's a really nice, great person. I understand his position, I truly respect him, he's achieved so much.

"He's an experienced person. I won't say 'respect' a hundred times or list all of his achievements, but he gets it just as well.

"But we're not here to be these good kids yielding and giving way to each other," he pointed out. "It's every man for himself.

"He understands it just as well. It happened the way it happened. And I think we've got a normal relationship."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.