November 7th, 2011
No Comments
Vitaly Alexandrovich Petrov or to simply put, Vitaly Petrov is a professional motorsport racer from the Russian Federation who is currently racing in Formula 1 for the Lotus Renault GP team. Known as the Vyborg Rocket in Russia, Petrov is the first and so far, the only driver to race in the Formula 1 world championships. Petrov was born on the 8th of September, 1984 in the Vyborg region of Russia. He had a very unusual entry into the world of racing and this is because his career did not start with go kart racing because there was very low motor sporting activity in the part of Russia where he lived. Instead he joined the University of Moscow and earned himself a degree in meteorology. After that, he started competing in the Russian Lada Cup from 2001 onwards, and he remained in the series for the following season as well. He completely dominated the series, winning all the races in the series thereby scoring a maximum number of points in the points’ standings, which is still a record.
In 2003, Vitaly Petrov moved onto Formula Renault and began racing in the Italian Championship for the Euro Nova Racing team where he finished the season 19th in the overall standings. After racing in the Euro Formula 3000, he moved back to Russia to take part in the inaugural season of the Russian Lada Revolution championship, where, ironically after beginning all the races in pole position, he finished the season as runner up. In 2006, Petrov signed up to race in the Formula 3000 series and that same season, he made his debut in the GP2 series as well. After his success in both these series, it was just a matter of time before Petrov joined the big boys in Formula 1 and he was linked to several teams prior to the start of the 2010 season including Sauber, Renault F1 as well as Campos. It was officially announced on 31st January, 2010 that Vitaly Petrov would become the first Russian in Formula 1 when he signed for the Renault Formula 1 team. He has had moderate success on the track so far, having had just one podium finish in his career and only 63 championship points on the board in two years. After the team was rebranded as Lotus Renault for the 2011 season, Vitaly Petrov got his favorite car #10.
April 26th, 2012
No Comments
April 17th, 2012
No Comments
The first Russian Formula 1 driver in the history of the sport – Vitaly Petrov – believes that his country is beginning to take notice of what has been a largely unknown sport thanks to his efforts. The Russian market for F1 could be huge, if popularity continues to increase and with such a large population, there could be many young Russians with the necessary potential to become a top driver.
“I’m famous in my country because I am the first Russian to feature in Formula One. More of my compatriots are now keen on following in my footsteps,” said Petrov. “This is definitely a good sign that Russia will one day produce more Formula One drivers.”
Vitaly now drives for the Caterham team, formerly known as Team Lotus, alongside Nico Rosberg. In the first Grand Prix of the year the team got off to a slow start, qualifying 19th and 20th of just 22 cars. The race itself was equally disappointing, and neither driver completed the course. Petrov retired with a steering problem 36 laps into the race, though he had made it to 15th position at the time, and his colleague Kovalainen lasted another few laps before a suspension problem forced him to stop.
“The problem has been rectified but I anticipate another problem in the Malaysian GP – the hot and humid weather,” said the Russian. “It’s quite difficult to drive in the heat. I am praying for rain to cool things down.” When asked about his team’s chances in the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix, he said “We are still developing the car and it will take a few more races before we can collect points.”
The final problem his team faces at the Sepang Circuit in Kuala Lumpur is the penalty that Kovalainen incurred in Australia. The Finn stands accused of overtaking behind the safety car, and will be docked 5 places on the grid – a verdict that Heikki feels is pretty harsh. The Caterham team will again start near the back, and must rely on their overtaking skills to climb back up the ranks if they wish to collect any points in the near future.
March 29th, 2012
13 Comments
March 6th, 2012
No Comments
Vitaly Petrov, the Caterham driver says that their team was not doing a qualifying style lap on the 1st day of the final test at the at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya after going 1.7 seconds slow of the quickest time.
Vitaly told that Caterham still required few more improvements in their new car on the 1st day of the 3rd pre season test. He registered that 9th best tie of 1 minute and 24.876 seconds with the super soft compound tyres. More than that, he told that the team drew out slight fuel during Day 1.
Petrov told that they never tried qualifying things or even close to that so we still have quite a lot of fuel in the car, which is good if he want we can go much faster. They did not even try the qualy, they did not try close to this setup to be in qualy mode. So there is still a lot to come, and he hope that with some upgrades they can still have some in Australia for the season opener.
Vitaly finished hundred and twenty three laps in the 1st day of the pre season test and the day turned to be a very productive one fir him. But fifteen minutes before the chequered flag his car was stopped on the race track during the test run. More than that, Vitaly stated that he assumed the team was behind compared to other competitors during the pre season testing and there were requirement to make tough efforts to cut down the gap in the performance compared to its rivals that is not going to be easy at all.
February 29th, 2012
9 Comments
February 1st, 2012
No Comments
January 4th, 2012
19 Comments
