An eventful day in Barcelona for Petrov

Vitaly, talk us through your qualifying session today…

I think we can be satisfied overall. To begin with I thought it might not be possible to take part in qualifying. My car had quite a lot of damage from my accident this morning and we didn’t know if it could be repaired in time. Then, I did my best in the session, and it’s clear the team has improved the car because I only missed out on Q3 by three tenths, which is a small gap compared to the last few races. So things look promising and going forward my objective must be to aim for Q3.

What happened this morning?

I got caught out, that’s all. There was some water in the curbs before turn four, which was quite dangerous because it was impossible to see it. When I started to brake, the car spun and then I hit the tyres.

Did that impact on your preparation for the rest of the weekend?

My mechanics did an amazing job to repair the car to give me the best chance in qualifying. Of course with a straightforward morning I think I could have perhaps made it into the top ten because I only missed Q3 by three tenths. But that’s racing and it’s all part of my learning curve in Formula 1. The race tomorrow will not be easy. Overtaking is a real challenge, even if you have faster car. But you never know what can happen and we have to be ready to take any opportunities that come our way.