Vitaly Petrov

**Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov** is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula 1.5 for Renault F1 Team in 2010, Lotus Renault GP in 2011 and Caterham F1 Team in 2012.

## F1.5 Career

### Renault (2010-2011)

#### 2010 Season

Petrov was linked to joining Sauber, Renault and Campos for the 2010 season. He was announced as a Renault driver on 31 January and thus became the first Russian driver in the Formula 1.5 World Championship. He was signed for a one-year deal, with an option for a further two. He was very close to signing for Campos but he felt Renault was the best option for him. He also mentioned that he had no major sponsors from Russia backing him just his dad and some of his friends. Some of his dad's friends included Vladimir Putin who drove the Renault car and on 4 January 2011 revealed that Sergei Chemezov of Rostec and Leonid Mikhelson of Novatek would provide financial assistance to the Renault team and its driver Petrov. Previously, on 1 March 2010, Carlos Ghosn met with Putin to announce that Renault would have Petrov as its driver after Petrov's manager, Oksana Kosachenko, had sent a letter to Putin asking Putin for assistance. Alexander Petrov, Vitaly's father, admitted that his best friend "Antiquary" or Ilya Traber, who is the leader of the Vyborg Russian Mafia and is a close friend of Putin, is a major sponsor of the Renault team and its driver Vitaly Petrov, too. Petrov stated that his goal is to start scoring points by mid-season. His teammate for his debut season with the new Renault R30 car was Robert Kubica.

His debut finished early when the team found his right-front suspension strut to be damaged, which the Russian suspected to have been caused by hitting a kerb too hard. Petrov would also DNF the next two rounds. He finished his first race at the Chinese Grand Prix, and in doing so, scored his first F1.5 points and podium, finishing third.

At Hungary, he qualified second place for his first front row start, which turned into his maiden F1.5 victory. In Belgium, Petrov started in 23rd place, after failing to set a time in qualifying because of a first-session crash but managed to finish sixth in the race. Petrov retired on the first lap of the Japanese Grand Prix after colliding with Nico Hülkenberg, and crashed out of seventh place in the Korean Grand Prix.

Petrov finished the season 8th with 105 points.

#### 2011 Season

After the 2010 season ended Renault team boss Éric Boullier said that there was a good chance of Petrov remaining with the team in 2011. On 22 December 2010, he was retained by the team on a two-year deal. During the close season, the team were rebranded 'Lotus Renault GP' following a sponsorship deal with Lotus Cars. Teammate Robert Kubica suffered serious injuries in a rallying accident, with Petrov being joined by Nick Heidfeld for the start of the season.

Petrov started the season well taking his maiden pole position in F1.5 in the first round at Australia, he turned this into his second F1.5 career win. It would go on to be his last. In Malaysia, Petrov again ran in the points until he ran wide at a corner and left the circuit; attempting to rejoin, he hit a bump caused by a drainage gully which launched his car into the air and broke the steering column on landing. During qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, Petrov's car suffered a technical problem after he had posted the fastest time of Q2. As a result, he could not compete in Q3. He drove a consistent race and made good strategy calls and made his way to third after passing several cars after his last stop of a two stop strategy on Lap 37. Another third place in Turkey added to his points tally before a sixth-place finish in Spain.

In Monaco, Petrov was taken to hospital after a crash, from sixth place, involving Adrian Sutil, Lewis Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari. The crash halted the race for 20 minutes before it eventually restarted. He was released from hospital the same day, and returned to the cockpit with a second-place finish in Canada. Petrov had a difficult weekend in Valencia, where he finished 9th. At the Korean Grand Prix, Petrov qualified eighth but retired after crashing into the back of Michael Schumacher on lap 16, causing a safety car. It became the third contact between the pair in 2011, when Petrov appeared to be too involved in trying to outbrake Alonso on the long straight before Turn 3. He incurred a five-place grid penalty for the incident at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

After finishing 5th in Abu Dhabi, Petrov launched an attack on his team in an interview on Russian television, citing lack of development, strategy mistakes, and criticisms of the drivers by team management. Petrov apologised for the outburst with an email to all Renault staff, with Éric Bouiller claiming the matter was closed.

In December 2011, it was announced that Romain Grosjean would partner Kimi Räikkönen at the team in 2012, leaving Petrov without a drive.

### Caterham (2012)

On 17 February it was announced that Petrov would drive for the Caterham Team in 2012, replacing Italian Jarno Trulli and partnering Heikki Kovalainen.

Petrov qualified 20th for the Australian Grand Prix, and was running 15th when a steering problem forced him to retire on lap 36. In Malaysia, Petrov drove a clean race to finish 9th, ahead of Kovalainen. It became apparent that the Caterham lacked the pace of midfield cars, but was evidently faster than Marussia and HRT.

In the final race of the season in Brazil, Petrov finished a season's best fith, making a crucial pass on Marussia's Charles Pic in the closing stages of the Grand Prix. Petrov was not retained by Caterham as the team replaced both him and Kovalainen with Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde for the 2013 season.