Sergey Sirotkin should not be too disappointed that his Formula 1 career is over.
That is the view of Mika Salo, a former F1 driver who has worked closely with the Russian this year as part of sponsor SMP Bank's programme.
Sirotkin has been replaced by Robert Kubica, who arrives with the sponsorship of the Polish oil company PKN Orlen.
Negotiations between SMP and Williams, meanwhile, broke down.
"It was pretty much up to Williams," told Salo the.
He said it was not clear that the once-great British team had the ability to pull itself off the very last row of the grid for 2019.
"Of course we wanted to lower the price a bit and get an assurance that Williams will get better. We did not reach a consensus," Salo explained.
"That's one of the reasons why I'm not worried that Sergey leaves," he said.
