2011 end of term report – Vitaly Petrov

Vitaly Petrov showed more maturity in his second season in F1 and improved on his 2010 final result. Thirteenth in his rookie season, he was 10th this year.

Season review

Petrov had to wait until December 22nd to get confirmation of his presence at Renault in 2011. His contract was even prolonged to the end of 2012… but was eventually broken as the Russian has not been retained to drive for the team next year.

After some promising winter testing, Petrov flew to Australia with high hopes. He had an excellent weekend and scored his best-ever result. He was sixth on the starting grid and crossed the finish line in 3rd place. Delighted with this podium, Petrov and LRGP were positive of more top three finishes as the season progressed.

In Malaysia, the Russian qualified once again in the top ten and made a good start. However, he ran wide in the closing parts of race – while running in 7th place – and was forced to retire with a broken steering column.

He scored points in China and in Turkey but missed out on the top ten in Spain. At Monaco, he was fighting for points when he was involved in a multi-car crash. Feeling pain in his back, he waited for the medical crew to attend to him and was eventually taken to the hospital. He was soon released and was back behind the wheel in Canada. He finished the race in 5th place.

The R31 was less competitive in the second part of the season and Petrov’s performance suffered from it. He was 15th at Valencia, 12th at Silverstone, 10th in Germany and 12th in Hungary. He took a couple of points away from the Belgium Grand Prix. In Italy, he was taken out of the race in the first corner.

LRGP really struggled at Singapore and Petrov finished in 17th position, behind Kovalainen’s Lotus.

The Russian bagged two more points in Japan but collided with Schumacher in Korea. He was deemed responsible for the collision and was given a five place grid penalty for the Indian Grand Prix. He had another difficult race in Abu Dhabi but ended the season on a good note as he picked up a point in Brazil.

Conclusion

After a promising podium in the season’s opener, Vitaly Petrov’s performances faded throughout the season and were obviously affected by the competitiveness of his car.
The LRGP driver performed well in qualifying and outshone Nick Heidfeld in this area, although he struggled a bit against Bruno Senna.
He scored his first podium in F1 but didn’t improve as much as expected. He was 10th in the championship and is at the moment looking for a racing seat for 2012.

Highs
—  Third in Australia
—  Scored 10 more points than in 2010
—  Outshone Heidfeld in qualifying

Lows
—  Didn’t improve enough
—  Crashed in Malaysia
—  Without a drive for 2012

Nextgen-Auto.com marks:
— Olivier Ferret : 9/20
— D.Thys : 13/20
— Sandrine Bouchard : 13/20
— Jean-Michel Setbon : 10/20
— Average mark on the forum Nextgen-Auto.com : 11/20
—  Total : 56/100