MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Russian driver of F1 team Williams Sergey Sirotkin said on Friday that the lack of experience in the ‘royal racing’ will not be a problem for him at this year’s FIA Formula One World Championship.

Team Williams announced on Tuesday that it signed a contract with Russia’s Sergey Sirotkin to pilot one of its cars in the upcoming season. The 22-year-old Russian partnered Canada’s Lance Stroll, 19, in Williams.

The contract with Sirotkin, who is a driver from the SMP Racing program on the development of the Russian auto racing sport, has been signed for the period of this season. He will be racing under number 35.

"I am aware of what is ahead of me in Formula One," Sirotkin told journalists. "I need not outdoing myself and will have to do what I am capable of and it will be sufficient."

"This is definitely not a plus for me that I do not know many tracks, but each Grand Prix has four hours of practice race," he said. "I do not think that it will be a problem and on top of everything we have an excellent simulator in the team."

Sirotkin is the third Russian driver to enter the world of F1 racing. The first Russian racer in Formula One was Vitaly Petrov, who made his debut in 2010. Another Russian driver, Daniil Kvyat, raced for teams Red Bull and Toro Rosso at different times between 2014 and 2017 and most recently signed a contract with Team Ferrari to become a development driver.

The 2018 FIA Formula One Championship includes 21 races and begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 23-25. The final Grand Prix of the upcoming season will be held in Abu Dhabi on November 23-25.