How can Sirotkin silence the doubters?

Russian rookie Sergey Sirotkin arrives in Formula 1 with a point to prove - and with Robert Kubica waiting in the wings at Williams, he's got to prove it fast, says Anthony Rowlinson.

Mar 20, 2018, 5:13 PM

Upd: Mar 20, 2018, 7:31 PM

Motorsport.com's Prime content

The best content from Motorsport.com Prime, our subscription service. Subscribe here to get access to all the features.

On a frigid Barcelona Monday, it couldn't pass without comic mention that the arrival of a new Russian driver in Formula 1 coincided with the passage of the 'Beast from the East' weather front through much of Europe.

But that chilly blast was no laughing matter for F1, cocooned though it is from most real-world happenings, since chunks of the first three days' running were wiped out. Indeed, so bracing was it at the Circuit de Catalunya that the small throng who assembled behind the Williams garage on March 26 to capture the thoughts of Sergey Sirotkin after his first run in the Williams FW41 could talk of little but how wretchedly cold it was.