Sirotkin, who is backed by SMP, joined the Renault programme in early 2016 - and then-team boss Vasseur made it clear at the end of the season that he wanted to keep the Russian on Renault's books and give him more F1 mileage.

Vasseur's exit at the start of this year subsequently created some uncertainty over Renault's plans for Sirotkin, but SMP Racing has now clarified it had been assured the partnership will continue.

At Wednesday's SMP Racing press conference in Moscow, Rotenberg expanded on Sirotkin's situation when queried about it by Motorsport.com.

"His programme is not changing - it's just that in Renault there was a change of the head of the [F1] programme, but for him everything will remain as is.

"We're planning that it'll go on the same way - and we'll announce the specifics of his Formula 1 programme in a separate presentation.

"Regarding Vasseur - we met him, had talks. Now we will have a meeting with the new Renault chief.

"Vasseur himself confirmed that nothing would be changing in our relationship with Renault, but we still have to see the [new] boss and make sure the terms remain the same as had been agreed."

Sirotkin, who finished third in GP2 in 2015 and 2016, is also to take on simulator work for SMP and Dallara's WEC LMP1-L project, which is being readied for a 2018 race debut.