Vitaly Petrov – A supporting character in the 2010 championship might lose his Renault seat for 2011
Vitaly Petrov has not been as good as he was expected to be when the young Russian driver began his Formula 1 journey with a championship winning team Renault this year, alongside an impressive Robert Kubica. Vitaly was unable to compete and pull out the
pace Kubica was able to achieve throughout the year and as a result, the young rookie ended up in 13th place with just 27 points.
As a result, there are many rumours that Vitaly Petrov might lose his seat at Renault as the team expects consistent results from him and he clearly, has not been the most consistent driver in any way.
Renault’s majority shareholders Genii Capital’s Chairman Gerard Lopez stated that the team has not decided whether to keep Petrov for 2011 or not.
“It's not done yet. As much as we have been happy during the course of the season, we were a little bit disappointed with the results coming towards the end of the season. The one criticism we had of him and still have, to some extent, is not his pure speed
but his ability to put together a whole weekend in a very focused and concentrated way,” said Lopez.
Vitaly Petrov was able to showcase the world, a championship changing performance as he held Fernando Alonso; the drivers’ standings leader back then, behind him for almost 40 laps at the grand finale in Abu Dhabi. Since Sebastian Vettel was leading the
race, Fernando’s title run was under serious threat and he needed to finish in 4th place at least in order to defend his lead and win the title.
“Abu Dhabi did a lot for us to re-consider his position and we'd like to be able to sign him up but he's been away so we have to sit down with him, look him in the eye and see if he can do what he did in Abu Dhabi during the race throughout the season, during
a race weekend,” added Gerard.
Renault vowed that they won’t choose money over talent in anyway and it seems that the team is really trying to take it up a notch and make a comeback in 2011 since the team has Robert Kubica who has proved that he has the potential to compete with the championship
runners. Renault has been a bit sloppy this year once again even though both of their drivers were scoring constant points and comparatively faster times.
Nevertheless, the team is going through a tough time coming up with a decision regarding Vitaly Petrov as they are hoping for good results from him in the near future, after an extremely strong finish to the 2010 season.
The team is considering Vitaly as the most potential Renault driver for 2011 as they have business interests in Russia and they support the idea of helping to promote a Russian champion however, their decision will be based on pace and racing credentials
purely.
Fernando Alonso helped the same team win both drivers and constructors’ title for two years consecutively and it seems that the same team that enabled him to win the title twice, cost him his third title.
“I know a lot of drivers and some are very good friends, but I don't know of any rookie drivers or even seasoned drivers who could hold up Alonso for 40 laps when he's fighting for the world championship and to do so not by aggressively closing the door
but just by being consistent and driving fast,” said Lopez.
The team believes that Vitaly has something unique to offer as he had never tested a Formula 1 car before he started racing as a full time driver for Renault and the team is therefore, considering him as their most potential option for 2011.
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