Petrov breaks the silence and spills the beans on his team

Vitaly Petrov’s contract with Lotus-Renault GP is clear. The Russian is not allowed to criticize his team in the press. “Unfortunately, I cannot say anything bad about the team, it’s clearly written in my contract. Read my interviews, I never criticize the team…,” the driver emphasizes.

But the Russian driver seems annoyed by the situation and the lack of competitiveness of his car, and he makes it known. « For nearly ten races, we have had absolutely nothing new on the car. This means that we are essentially racing with the same car as at the beginning of the season. »

The hopes glimpsed at the start of the season, with a podium at the first Grand Prix in Australia, quickly evaporated: «Of course, the first podium in Australia was a source of inspiration for me and for the whole of Russia, as well as for all the fans. But I’m angry that I don’t have the means to do the same thing now.»

The Russian clarifies his thoughts and finds that his team is not blameless: « How many times have we lost races due to bad pit stops or poor race strategies? Because of this, we have missed out on at least a dozen races. I can no longer remain silent about this. »

Despite everything, Petrov does not seem worried about his future within the team… perhaps that’s why he allows himself to shake things up: « Formula 1 is a business. You have to work hard to get a seat, whether it’s sponsors or the drivers themselves. Look at the queue there is to get the second seat at Williams…I think there are at least twenty people eager to take that place. Fortunately, I’m not one of them! I think my situation is quite clear. I have a contract for 2012. But anything is possible in Formula 1, as we have seen with Ferrari and Kimi Räikkönen, who was offered a large sum of money to free up his seat. It’s hard to oppose if they want to sideline someone.»