If the deal doesn’t go through, there are some curious precedents.
SMP boss Boris Rotenberg was the man behind Sirotkin’s much publicised, but ill-fated, bid for a seat at Sauber in 2013. In fact, he was leading the team of Russian investors.
‘Omnicorse has learned that Boris Rotenberg will become the new owner of Sauber. Investors will buy out the team completely, with SMP holding the controlling stake.’ So ran the story in 2013.
And there was another interesting revelation from Omnicorse. . ‘After the deal, Rothenberg will appoint Nicolas Todt as Sauber boss.’ But after many official announcements and press releases, and to the great embarrassment of Sauber, the deal never happened.
Flash forward to 2017. Forbes reports that Jean Todt was lobbying for Sirotkin at Williams. At a meeting with Bruno Michel and Chase Carey, he promised to impress upon F1 teams that they should prefer drivers from Formula 2, the official feeder series. Too many were coming from other routes.
Todt did not like the fact that Williams was negotiating with Kubica, whom he called, ‘a pensioner’. Soon the press reported that Kubica had dropped out of contention.
Naturally, Todt would be sensitive to Michel’s position in Formula 2 where Nicolas Todt is one of the key players.