Former Renault and Brand new Caterham F1 driver Vitaly Petrov, took some time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for My Formula One.
Vitaly began his driving career in the Russian Lada Cup in 2001. He dominated that competition winning everything, he even amazingly scored the maximum points available of 500. This got him on the road towards his F1 career which started in 2010 at Renault. He somewhat surprisingly lost his seat this winter to the less experianced Romain Grosjean. He recently joined Caterham F1, and kindly answered a few questions for us to give us some idea of his feelings and thoughts, following his move to Caterham. Here is that interview;
1. With a Russian grand Prix just around the corner, a drive at one of the top teams, things must have seemed like a dream for you, until along came yet another world champion (Kimi) and all of a sudden you were without a drive. What was your first reaction when you got the call from Caterham to offer you a drive? Be honest, did you punch the air and scream yeeeesssss or was it more relief?
It was something we had been working on for a while so I was always confident something would be sorted. I was obviously very happy when it was announced and now I just want to focus on settling in as quickly as I can.
2. In all honesty, I always thought you were going to struggle at Renault, nothing to do with your talent, more to do with the Kubica issue hanging over you and a seemingly close relationship with Romain and the team bosses. Is it fair to say that your talent will really start to shine through properly at Caterham?
I don't really want to look back, i want to make sure I'm doing the best job I can and the way I've been welcomed into the team, and how they are listening to me, and working with me - it looks like I'll have a very good chance to be as strong as possible.
3. You've been up against some good drivers in the past, now it's Heikki as your team mate. Have you had chance to meet him yet? And if so, how do you think you'll work together?
He's been great. The whole team have been really good and from what Heikki and I have already done together I think we have similar styles, so we'll be able to work well together.
4. Tony Fernandes, Mike Gascoigne and Tom Webb have all been so good to me (as the author of such a new website). How lucky do you feel to be working with such a good group of people?
As I say, the whole team has been really good. I think this is a team that wants to grow, and is doing the right things to take them where they want to go, so it's a good place to be.
5. Caterham are looking for their first ever points this season. I believe they'll do it, how proud would it make you to achieve that goal and add it to your CV? And how would that compare to your podium with Renault last season?
Let's see. I don't want to set any specific targets like that yet. It would be great to help the team achieve what they want, but i won't compare it with what's happened before, i'll enjoy our successes on their own terms.
6. What are your hopes and ambitions as a Caterham driver? Short and long term?
Pretty simply, to do the best job I can for the team. I want to help them grow, and if i can do something special with this team that would be good.
7. If you manage to beat a Lotus-Renault this season, how will that make you feel? Surely there'll be a little bit of gloating going on inside your head, even if you don't admit it.
It will be a good feeling to beat anyone ahead of us. I don't really mind who that is - if we're beating bigger teams than us then we have achieved one of our goals.
We'd like to thank Vitaly for his time and wish him the best of luck for the coming season and onwards.
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