Petrov seeks qualifying gains, again

Vitaly, you scored your first F1 points in dry conditions last weekend - were you happy with your performance?

Yes, of course, I was pleased to be back in the points and to have a good race. It was quite an interesting race for me; I had a good fight with the guys around me and the car felt easy to drive. I pushed at the right times in the race and managed to make up two places at the pit stops. After that, I was behind the Mercedes, but there was no place to overtake.

The next race is at the Hungaroring - is it a track you enjoy?

It’s a circuit that I know quite well and I have a lot of experience there racing in GP2. But this will be my first time there in Formula 1 so there is still a lot for me to learn. I like the circuit and it’s quite a tricky track where you need to find a good rhythm and know the secret to going well there.

What is a realistic target for the weekend?

I need to work on improving my qualifying performance to make sure I start the race in a good position. If I can do this, I think I can have a strong race because in Germany the pace of the car was good. In fact, Germany was nearly a mistake-free weekend, except for qualifying. Robert has shown what the car can do in qualifying, so I know this is where I can improve. I will work hard to put all the pieces together across the weekend and my target is to finish in the top ten and score some more points.