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Backer: "Calling Sergey Sirotkin pay-driver a pure lie"

Published on 30 Jan 2018 11:43
13
By: Rob Veenstra

Calling Sergey Sirotkin a pay-driver is a "pure lie". That is the claim of Boris Rotenberg, the Russian billionaire who is widely credited for being the new Williams driver's financial backer. Rotenberg, the co-founder of SMP Bank, also runs SMP Racing, a driver programme he says is similar to Red Bull's.

SMP also has its own sports car prototype, the BR1, and Rotenberg admitted entering a team in F1 one day is "a dream". "I've always said that we do not strive for formula one because it is a very political story and it doesn't work if support from various sides is lacking," he told the Russian publication Fontanka.

For now, Rotenberg says he is happy to have got Sirotkin all the way to the F1 grid. He defends the 22-year-old amid revelations he brings a reported EUR 20 million to the Williams seat. "He was faster than Kubica," Rotenberg insisted. "That is for those people who say he (Sirotkin) bought a place for himself. That is a pure lie. The boy has been working for this for five years since he joined the programme. Finance cannot play the decisive role."

Rotenberg admits that SMP Racing is paying Williams, but he insists it will "go to the development of the car". "Naturally there are costs. Motor sport is not cheap. It is not a toy for me to amuse myself," he said.

Sirotkin was Renault's reserve driver last year, and so one might think Rotenberg would prefer the rookie had been promoted to race driver with the French works team. "No," he insists. "Williams is a historically more important team. It is more focused on the result."

Rotenberg also denied that the presence at Williams of Lance Stroll, whose billionaire father Lawrence is an influential figure, might complicate the task for Sirotkin. "I don't think so," he answered. "It is clear that although they are one team, on the track it is every man for himself. I have told him (Sirotkin) that every race should be regarded as his last, even if we will be there helping to make the Williams car go faster," said Rotenberg. (GMM)

Jutlandia

Posts: 191

That was a lot of BS.
He is a pay driver, no matter what.
Dont know who he trying to convince here.
It's like Putin claiming that he has no responsability in what's going in Ukarine.

2
Jan 30 2018 - 20:18

F1 News Sergey Sirotkin Williams

Replies (13)

s_ya

Posts: 21
it will "go to the development of the car"... Motor sport is not cheap...
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- Jan 30 2018 - 12:06
Barron

Posts: 625
Well, I’ve read some BS in my time, but this article seems to be right up there with the best. Just one question though, is there such a thing as an impure lie?
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- Jan 30 2018 - 13:27
talktohenry

Posts: 362
Even Nikki Lauda paid for his first drive, Merc paid Jordan for Schumi who cares, if he doesn't perform he's gone pretty soon anyway!
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- Jan 30 2018 - 14:03
Norbert

Posts: 108
Sell out later? Didn't your Mum ever tell you not to not to get involved with gangsters? You can't run, you can't hide. You're not going anywhere until they tell you it's time. Is it time yet? They've got you on the twist. Just like they want to get fans with this news spam.
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- Jan 30 2018 - 15:00
ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
Oh please... I am not saying that it should have been Kubica, but were it not for. Sirotkin money they would have gotten a proper experience driver. Their line up makes no sense. Maybe Sirotkin is fast, but he is rookie. Lance Stroll is no necessarily mentoring figure. Once again, this sort of thing would have never happened before. I remember how Williams passed on Ayrton Senna when he first came to F1 because 'he wasn't experienced enough.' because that's what winning teams used to do... Get the best proven available drivers. Williams? Mediocrity is built into their business plan.
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- Jan 30 2018 - 15:26
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Aint they all pay drivers nowadays?
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- Jan 30 2018 - 15:44
- Pauli
  
  Posts: 140
  True. Even Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso bring massive amount of sponsorship to teams because they are very valuable faces for marketing campaigns.
  + 0
  
  Jan 30 2018 - 17:41
- ajpennypacker
  
  Posts: 2,475
  @calle I think you know the difference. It's not about sponsorship money a driver brings, but rather the perception of a driver based upon (1) the nature of the sponsorship money, (2) recognized talent, and most importantly (3) credentials. Championships won, etc.
  
  Sirotkin hasn't won a championship in any category since 2011. He had decent seasons in GP2 but nothing remarkable. Clearly Renault did not think of him as talented enough to keep him around. You don't usually get a driver that doesn't stand out on recognized talent, or credentials, getting +20m worth of sponsorship. The comparisons made below to Hamilton, Vettel, or Alonso are absurd, because none of this guys had this major sponsorship deals when they started. Hamilton did have a big sponsor: McLaren itself.
  
  Maybe Sirotkin will be great, and I hope he is. But there are very valid reasons for people to look on Sirotkin as a pay driver, a label which by the day he could shed in a couple of solid races.
  + 0
  
  Jan 30 2018 - 18:25
- Pauli
  
  Posts: 140
  @AJPENNYPACKER, I agree it is absurd to compare them directly to Sirotkin. I just wanted to point out that you can call anyone a pay driver if you are very lose with your term.
  Ten years ago about 10-13m probably equaled Sirotkin's 20m . But still I don't think anyone of them attracted that magnitude of direct sponsorship before they showed their true skills in F1. I specially suspect that Hamilton probably had hardest time getting into F1 except that he was very talented driver.
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  Jan 31 2018 - 02:10
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I find that judging drivers based on what assets they bring to be an inexact art, especially when this sport put so big emphasis on the money drivers bring to the table. AFAIK, there is only one current non-pay driver, and thats Vandoorne. The rest of the debuting drivers these last years all had either really wealthy parents, like Verstappen and Ricciardo, were crowdfunded, like with Haryanto or had some huge corporation backing them, like with Ericsson, Ocon and wehrlein.
  + 0
  
  Jan 31 2018 - 07:42
Jutlandia

Posts: 191
That was a lot of BS.
He is a pay driver, no matter what.
Dont know who he trying to convince here.
It's like Putin claiming that he has no responsability in what's going in Ukarine.
- + 2
- Jan 30 2018 - 20:18
Barron

Posts: 625
Overall I see no problem with “pay drivers” for the simple reason that all the lower formulas are structured around the same system and almost all professional race drivers are pay drivers. Go to an F3 team, any one, and tell them you are the next big driving thing. Their first question will be? “What’s your budget”? Generally no-one gets employed, all are sponsored. There are exceptions such as works drives in DTM, WTC and possibly V8 Supercars. I don’t know how it works in the USA or the Far East but I would assume it’s similar. Even if you’re lucky enough to get paid, it won’t be much and you might find yourself having to pay all your own expenses such as travel, subsistence & accommodation. There were massive arguments between Williams & Mansell over this. The biggest paydriver this past decade has been Fernando Alonso and nearly all current F1 drivers have sponsors that greatly offset their “salaries” so it’s time to stop sneering at a term many people simply do not understand.
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- Jan 31 2018 - 10:48
talktohenry

Posts: 362
Being a big name like - Alonso, who brings sponsorship because of being a World Champion, his talent, his 'winning' brand, this is a completely and utterely different thing than a Russian guy who has no 'brand' no results and and no F1 wins with Russian money which will be ultimately have came in some way or another via corruption....Where as Alons.... earns.... and brings his big sponsor money on pure credible talent and merit, two entirely different revenue sources when it comes to the credibility scales...
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- Jan 31 2018 - 18:15