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Kubica 'not at Williams to teach Stroll and Sirotkin'

Williams official reserve and development driver Robert Kubica has stated that he he doesn't see his role at the team as a teacher to full time drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin.

Kubica previously raced for Sauber and Renault until a rally accident in 2011 left him switch serious injuries. He appeared poised for a return to Formula 1, only to be beaten to the Williams race seat by Sirotkin.

The 33-year-old Pole was subsequently appointed reserve driver, meaning he might step in if Stroll or Sirotkin are injured or unwell. But he says that doesn't mean he's also the team's official mentor.

"I would not say that I'm a teacher and they're my students," he told TVP Sport this week.

"But they do have little experience," Kubica admitted. "Like anybody when they start - Formula 1 is a complicated sport.

"Lance and Sergey come to me with questions. More so Stroll than Sirotkin.

"It's nothing personal with Sergey," he added. "Perhaps Lance just has some experience already and so he knows what to ask."

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Sirotkin got his first Grand Prix start in Australia two weeks ago. However his race lasted only four laps before a plastic bag caused brake failure on his FW41.

"We expected more when we went to Melbourne," Sirotkin conceded. "I expected more from myself. But it's not as terrible as it looked."

Stroll meanwhile is starting his second season with Williams. That makes him the de facto team leader despite being only 19 years old.

Last season Stroll was paired with F1 veteran Felipe Massa. But the Canadian said that Massa had never been much of a mentor to him.

“I don’t think I had any guidance from him last year whatsoever," Stroll said in February. "I don’t know why people seem to think there was a coach or a mentor thing going on. There wasn't."

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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.