Q&A with Vitaly Petrov

It’s been all go for Vitaly Petrov since he signed to race for us, but with a few minutes to spare between his first seat fitting and a ton of media commitments, we sat him down to get the lowdown on racing in Russia and why being part of a racing family is now crucial for him.

Most F1 drivers take a fairly predictable path to the top level, beginning with formative years in karting, but you had a much less orthodox route to Formula One didn’t you?

When I was very young I was already obsessed with driving. I was always asking if there was a special place where I could drive my father’s car and I was always saying to him: “come on, go with me, let’s drive a little bit”. But obviously he needed to work and he was often quite tired, so he asked some friends, rally drivers, to teach me how to drive, to give me an understanding of what a car can do.

After that I started to do some rallysprint events around my home in Vyborg and then we did some little races when I was around 12 or 14 years of age. I never did karting. Even now I’ve never really done proper pro karting. My career is a bit unusual!

Until I was about 17, I did just this little Lada series – a front-wheel drive car on snow, very much like rallysprint. I never did proper tarmac racing on a proper circuit. It was just a little championship that took place in St Petersburg, my home town and in another town close to St Petersburg, so it was not even professional racing. At this time I had no idea even what professional racing was!

In 2001, I decided to try touring cars. Again that was in Ladas, more front-wheel drive and not very powerful, but it was a new championship that had started up in St Petersburg, Moscow and some other places. I did some races in that, but I only won one, as I had some troubles with the car and we didn’t want to continue.

The following year, though, we decided to go all out and win it, which we did. I had six poles and six wins, which is a pretty good memory for me. I was the youngest guy in it too.

After that we really didn’t know what to do because this was really the only championship that existed! I wanted to be a racing driver and to move somewhere where I could do that, but even at that time I had no idea what Formula One was.

In 2003, we decided to go to Europe and try an open-wheel car and that was Formula Renault. I spent two seasons in that, until 2005, but we ran out of money and we ran out of sponsors because people in Russia didn’t really understand what motorsport is. And with Formula Renault you need to spend 300,000 to 500,000 euros to get a competitive car.

So I came back to Russia, thinking it was all over but at that time Formula 3 had just begun in Russia, along with some prototype racing. My father and I decided to do both championships and I won both. I moved to Europe again the following year to do Formula 3000, and we raced in the Italian and European championships. I took third place in
both of them.

And after that we decided to do GP2, and that is where I think my real racing career began. The team was Campos and for me it was a real big team. It was the first time I had seen how engineers really work and how there are a lot of people behind them, the mechanics, that kind of thing. That was when I began to understand how to improve a car, how
to work on set-up, what I needed to do.

I spent three years in GP2 and finished second in 2009 and then in 2010 I made it to Formula One. There you go, that’s my life!

That’s pretty detailed! It wasn’t an easy road to travel. What made you choose motor racing over anything else?

Oh, for this I think I need to say thank you to my father. When I was young I did a lot of different sports. I did judo, boxing, football, karate, basketball, tennis – I did them all, just because I love sports of all kinds. But my father used to say to me: “Do the sport that you love, the one that’s really in your heart.” And my heart was always in driving. I was fascinated by cars. He would always push me to be a racing driver and I think he’s the reason I am here today.

Can you explain what made you choose driving over every other sport. What more did it give you?

To be a racing driver is very difficult to describe. The feeling is hard to understand.

You love your family, yes? Well, the feeling is the same being a racing driver – you just love to be part of this group of people racing against each other.

I don’t think it has anything to do with adrenaline. We don’t have that. I get that adrenaline when I’m sitting somewhere strange and I have a little bit of fear because I don’t have things completely under my control.

I prefer to be always in control and I have that in a racing car. To feel how the car is moving on the track, how the car is sliding on the tyres; understanding the technical side, what we can do to improve the car and make it so that we can get in the points or finish on the podium. This is what is good about being a racing driver.

But it’s very difficult to talk about what it is like being a racing driver, it would take a long time because it is everything.

This team is a lot smaller than what you’ve been used to. What’s your perception of it all so far?

You know, this was one of the first discussions we had with Tony. We wanted to know from him what the atmosphere was like inside the team, what were his plans for the team and how the team will be in the future. And his answer was exactly what I wanted to hear. He said that this is a family and that the team has already done a lot in one period, and that he wants to start a new one and achieve good results. That’s exactly what I want and probably I haven’t had that before. So, I am here and I am very happy to be part of this team and I hope I can be like a small son for his family!

It is team with a long way to go. Is that something you’re happy to be part of? Where do your goals in F1 lie now?

I’ve answered this a lot today! Ha, ha! People have asked when the team will take its first point, or which teams we will pass this year. I think this is not our target in my view. I think the target has to be how the team is ready to work. It starts from mechanics, engineers, drivers, communications people, the whole group. If they are ready to show all the world how they want to fight and how they want to bring the team to the top in a few years, well maybe 10 or 15, then you just do it, you just get on and work. Like the team has done over the past two years.

I know this year we will have many more people and we will get what we need in this moment. We need to continue in that way of working – like a family.

Is that important to you, to be a crucial part of the machine, so that as the team grows you do too? Would it also make that first point more satisfying?

Yes, of course. First of all, I think it’s more important for everyone in the team to be happy with what they did. Maybe sometimes it’s not important to take even one point but it’s perhaps more important that when you come to a race weekend everything is working perfectly, everyone has done their best. Maybe the car is not so quick now but you can understand why it is not quick and then it is just a question of time before you get there.

What was your first day with the team like?

I arrived here yesterday evening and the following morning I met all the people at the factory and then there were a lot of phone calls and interviews with the press. A lot!

Then we did the seat fitting, which was not so easy. In this team all the drivers have been pretty small and I’m a little bit tall! But it went well in the end and we got it done, so hopefully it will be comfortable. Then after that even more interviews! Then, home to prepare myself for my first test.

This will be obviously be a very different car to last year’s Renault, so how do you prepare yourself for that?

I think you do need to be clear in your mind, with no stress and not surprised by anything. That makes it a lot easier. It won’t be that different to the Renault to be honest I think. Maybe not quite as quick yet but the feeling, I hope, will be similar. It’s the same engine etc so I don’t think it will be a problem.

If you could sum up the team in one word after your first day, what word would you choose?

That would be impossible! It’s not possible to sum it up after just one day. I would say though that the whole team has made me feel very welcome and everyone has been very helpful to me. It was very easy to ask for what I want and to understand what’s expected of me. I hope it will stay this way for the whole year. If you ask me for one word, I hope it is family?