When Vitaly Petrov made his Grand Prix debut for Renault at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix he became the first driver from Russia or the former Soviet Union to compete in Formula One. His debut season yielded 13th place in the championship and a best result of 5th in Hungary – however he gained notoriety for blocking Fernando Alonso in Abu Dhabi and costing Alonso a chance at the title win. His 2011 season with the newly re-branded Lotus-Renault team began strongly with 3rd place at the season-opener in Australia but the car failed to maintain consistent competitiveness and he ended the season 10th in the standings. For 2012 he was dropped by Lotus and picked up by Caterham. With an inferior car he failed to score a point all season, but did finish a strong 11th in his final race in Brazil. He was not retained for the 2013 season.