Petrov: 19th on Singapore Grid is Dad’s Birthday Gift

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Qualifying ahead of his teammate for only the third time this season was a birthday present for Vitaly Petrov’s father, the Russian Formula One driver said Saturday.

Qualifying ahead of his teammate for only the third time this season was a birthday present for Vitaly Petrov’s father, the Russian Formula One driver said Saturday.

Petrov is set to start Sunday’s race from 19th on the grid after setting a time almost three tenths of a second faster than Finnish teammate Heikki Kovalainen, even though his Caterham team had been forced to rebuild his car after a practice crash.

“I'm really happy with how quali went today. It's my Father's birthday and the performance is my present for him,” Petrov said on the Caterham website.

“He told me this morning ‘Don't push too hard,’ and then I went and crashed the car in P3 [third practice]! The boys did a fantastic job in the garage to repair the car.”

Petrov’s performance won plaudits from Caterham owner Tony Fernandes.

“Vitaly's performance today might just be the making of him as a Caterham driver. He drove outstandingly well today,” Fernandes said on the team website.

The qualifying session ended a lean run of form for Caterham, which had been drawn into a fight with slower cars rather than making progress towards battling midfield runners, Fernandes said.

“We deliberately stopped sending out press releases because, truthfully, we did not believe our performance was giving us anything worth reporting,” he said.

“However, today's qualifying performance has begun to give me confidence that we are back on the path to the promised land of the midfield.”

Petrov’s future at Caterham remains uncertain after his manager Oksana Kosachenko told R-Sport last month she was talking to Caterham and three other teams about a place for him next season.

Petrov achieved the only podium finish of his career when he finished third at the Australian Grand Prix last year for Lotus Renault.

Petrov joined Caterham shortly before this season began, displacing veteran Italian Jarno Trulli and has recorded the team's best result of the season with 13th in Valencia in June.

 

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