Sirotkin expecting plenty of support in debut home race

There's always a first. Sergey Sirotkin will race in front of his home fans this weekend in Sochi. The Williams driver has never done this before which gives him an extra buzz in the build-up to a race weekend.

The 23-year-old has had a testing first season in F1. It took him 14 races, but the Russian's first F1 points finally came in Monza a few weeks ago. Now that monkey is off his back, Sirotkin can enjoy the final few races of the season.

"My home race is always good," Sirotkin said in an interview on F1i.

"It's obviously a big pleasure to race in front of my home crowd. I get a lot of support from all over the country. But at the same time, it will be a very busy weekend for me."

Chief technical officer at Williams, Paddy Lowe, hopes the atmosphere and support can all add to the mixing jug to produce momentum into the final six races of the season. It's looking more and more likely that they will finish bottom of the constructors' championship.

"We expect to see huge support for him [Sirotkin] from the local fans. We head to Russia later in the season than usual, but we expect to see similar weather conditions," Lowe said.

"The circuit itself is part permanent road, part street circuit and can be quite technically challenging. It requires good all-round performance to manage both and high-speed corners."