Sergey Sirotkin: "2018 Williams more aggressive"

Sergey Sirotkin says Williams' 2018 car is "much more aggressive" than its predecessor. It has emerged that the British team will beat many of its competitors to the launch of their new machines, with a Williams reveal event to take place in London next month.

Sirotkin, the team's newly-announced Russian driver, says the team will be ready. "Although we announced our cooperation not so long ago, we started preparing at the Abu Dhabi test," he told the Russian publication Sport-Express.

"I have seen the new car in the wind tunnel and I can say that it looks cool -- much more aggressive. The simulator and other indicators confirm that a tangible step forward has been made," Sirotkin added.

Many have criticised Williams' 2018 driver lineup, with Sirotkin instead of F1 legend Robert Kubica chosen to be Lance Stroll's teammate. Sirotkin denied that the influence of Stroll, whose father is a billionaire, will disadvantage him.

"Some people talk about the influence of his father on the team, but I do not see that within the team," he insisted. "I try to do my work as well as I can every day, and I'm sure that the team will see and appreciate it."

As for being chosen as Stroll's teammate over Kubica, Sirotkin said he wants to form a good relationship with Williams' new reserve driver. "Robert is a very nice guy with character and charisma, which is important because we have to spend time together," he said.

"He is a talented and fast driver and completely understands the nuances of working with the car, which everyone knows. I will not compare him with myself, but it's good to have someone like him to help me to develop and also Lance and the whole team. Together we have a very good and quite young team," Sirotkin said. (GMM)