Firstly, I've decided to revise to approach to writing up the results, the lap time etc are a bit too formal and while I might allude to them, I won't put them on the blog. (Additionally, I'm too lazy)
Overall Result:
Classification: 9th
Grid Position: 10th
Laps: 56
Time: 1:37:55.630
Gap (to leader): 57.404
KPH: 186.913
Fastest Lap: 1:41.261 (Lap 50)
From the perspective of a Petrov fan this was a very mixed feeling race. It was undoubtedly one of the best dry races of the modern era but only from an objective (or Hamilton/Webber) perspective, because Renault were definitely disappointing.
From the start things weren't looking great, Vitaly's getaway was poor, no doubt it was his worst this season and consequently was battling for 12th and 13th for the early part of the race.
Things didn't improve much later on, consensus seems to be that the strategy was the ultimate flaw in both Renault drivers performances this weekend with both opting for a 2 stop strategy of Soft-Soft-Hard. Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber clearly displayed the superior effectiveness of the 3 stop compared to the 2 and evidence could be seen of this all over the track. Each stint the Renaults were being required to nurse their tyres, even extending their stints long after the lap times were dropping away. Although they were managing to get round the Force Indias and Saubers, by the time they'd come out of the pits again, they found themselves with the same job of getting around them again. Thankfully since Vitaly's stop came later in the race than Nick's, Vitaly still had some pace in the last stint to catch and pass the Heidfeld-Kobayashi-DiResta train and got himself into 9th for some crucial championship points.
Ultimately the race was a success, Pirelli definetely ought to be commended for their efforts, today they've proven just how accurately they've been able to produce a Canada-2010-like race at other circuits. Bring on Turkey and a more progressive Renault strategy!
Monday, 18 April 2011
Friday, 15 April 2011
Round 03 - China: FP1 & FP2
Practice 1
Number of Laps: 16
Fastest Lap: 1:41.231
Classification: 9th
1:45.735
1:43.451
1:42.155
1:44.992
1:42.354
1.47.933
-Pit-
1:47.287
1:49.261
1:41.231
1:41.727
1:43.469
1:41.857
1:52.762
Practice 2
Number of Laps: 31
Fastest Lap: 1:38.859
Classification: 9th
1:48.244
1:41.866
1:50.506
1:41.117
1:53.711
-Pit-
1:40.622
1:46.389
1:41.611
1:41.379
1:56.883
-Pit-
1:43.092
1:41.008
1:47.577
-Pit-
1:38.938
1:57.939
1:38.859
1:48.006
-Pit-
1:45.796
1:45.563
1:45.350
1:45.501
1:46.413
1:44.666
1:45.051
1:46.274
1:54.333
I think if I'd told you that one of the Renault drivers would make two mistakes during Fridays running and the other would be safe and consistent, you may have believed me but not if I'd also told you which one was which. With plenty of drivers making mistakes across the circuit, Heidfeld isn't entirely blameworthy but in his respectable fashion, he only holds himself to blame.
In general the Renault drivers both seemed to do ok today but while Nick looks like he could trade times with at least the Ferrari's, he'd struggle to be satisfied if in doing so he go for another off-track excursion. On the other hand, we still haven't really seen the Vitaly of Melbourne, he may be just holding back, consciously or unconsciously, after the incident in Malaysia but neither his one lap pace or his race simulation pace show the promise of another podium. This is only practice though and practice that compared to last week, has been available setup time, which can only be a good thing.
Here's what Vitaly had to say about Friday:
“We managed to run the whole way through both sessions, and then we were able to work on some directions for set-up so we’re quite happy with that. I think we need to be happy with today, of course not on the pace and the lap time as we can be quite a bit quicker. What is good is that we don’t have any mechanical problems, we can still continue to work and push hard. The option tyres were a big improvement, as usual, with much more grip.”
Number of Laps: 16
Fastest Lap: 1:41.231
Classification: 9th
1:45.735
1:43.451
1:42.155
1:44.992
1:42.354
1.47.933
-Pit-
1:47.287
1:49.261
1:41.231
1:41.727
1:43.469
1:41.857
1:52.762
Practice 2
Number of Laps: 31
Fastest Lap: 1:38.859
Classification: 9th
1:48.244
1:41.866
1:50.506
1:41.117
1:53.711
-Pit-
1:40.622
1:46.389
1:41.611
1:41.379
1:56.883
-Pit-
1:43.092
1:41.008
1:47.577
-Pit-
1:38.938
1:57.939
1:38.859
1:48.006
-Pit-
1:45.796
1:45.563
1:45.350
1:45.501
1:46.413
1:44.666
1:45.051
1:46.274
1:54.333
I think if I'd told you that one of the Renault drivers would make two mistakes during Fridays running and the other would be safe and consistent, you may have believed me but not if I'd also told you which one was which. With plenty of drivers making mistakes across the circuit, Heidfeld isn't entirely blameworthy but in his respectable fashion, he only holds himself to blame.
In general the Renault drivers both seemed to do ok today but while Nick looks like he could trade times with at least the Ferrari's, he'd struggle to be satisfied if in doing so he go for another off-track excursion. On the other hand, we still haven't really seen the Vitaly of Melbourne, he may be just holding back, consciously or unconsciously, after the incident in Malaysia but neither his one lap pace or his race simulation pace show the promise of another podium. This is only practice though and practice that compared to last week, has been available setup time, which can only be a good thing.
Here's what Vitaly had to say about Friday:
“We managed to run the whole way through both sessions, and then we were able to work on some directions for set-up so we’re quite happy with that. I think we need to be happy with today, of course not on the pace and the lap time as we can be quite a bit quicker. What is good is that we don’t have any mechanical problems, we can still continue to work and push hard. The option tyres were a big improvement, as usual, with much more grip.”
Thursday, 14 April 2011
The Inevitable Autosport Forum Reaction!
I guess it's no surprise really, but after Sunday's little airborne excursion, Vitaly became the star of the 'Photoshopped!' thread on Autosport's Racing Comments Bulletin Board (Not for the first time I should add!). Here are a few of the more creative:
(TommyB89)
(SNiko)
(CaptainJackSparrow)
(bitsandbobs)
(Marley)
The forum name of the creators in the brackets below their respective creations, thanks for the effort, I hope no-one minds me using them. Incidentally, a variation of the first image was used in the Chinese GP Preview press release from Lotus Renault. You can find the whole release here.
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Round 02 - Malaysia: Race
Overall Result:
Classification: 17th
Laps: 52
Time: 1:31:40.647
Gap: DNF
KPH: 188.641
Fastest Lap: 1:41.057 (Lap 49)
Firstly let me say commiserations to Vitaly and I sincerely hope his back is ok after the incident, fortunately I haven't heard any news to suggest he was injured in any way but that can't have been a comfortable landing. And additionally, congratulations to Nick Heidfeld, obviously wanting to demonstrate that anything VP can do, he can do as well, going from 6th on the grid to a 3rd place podium.
In short, clearly this wasn't where Vitaly wanted to be at the end of Sunday. There are, however, some positives and consolations to consider after what was unquestionably an exciting and action packed Malaysian Grand Prix. Here's what he had to say at the end of it:
""First of all I am happy for the team as we got another podium, so we can consider this a great start to the season for us. It was a strong performance by the team in an unusual race. I made a small mistake which shouldn't have had the consequences it had. I went wide and the car took off on the curb, landing hard. Both cars should have been in the points today, but the good news is that we clearly have the pace needed to compete this season.""
The Start:
Unfortunately I can't find a video from the onboard camera that was shown on the coverage today. It must be out there somewhere and if I run into it I'll add it to this post later. The reason for wanting to include it in this post was it serves as yet another example of Petrov getting an amazing start, even when surrounded by arguably faster cars. Of course, the evidence points to the Renault being a flying started this year in general, Nick Heidfeld also demonstrated it's potential today.
To briefly decribe though, Webber had an awful start from 3rd allowing both Heidfeld and Alonso to get alongside him before they'd even reached the corner. It was this triple bank of cars that Vitaly soon found himself coming up on, so in order to continue making progress, he dived left to get on the outside of turn 1 and luckily, Nick was brave enough to pull alongside Hamilton in the corner and this allowed Vitaly to follow him round, giving both Renault drivers the inside line into turn 2. Unfortunately though Vitaly was squeezed out by both Hamilton and Button as they came out of the corner but 5th was a great position to be in from 8th on the grid.
Strategy and Race Pace:
Without looking at any extensive data or comparing lap times directly, just from watching the race, the impression I got was that Petrov (or the car, or both) didn't have the same pace displayed in Melbourne. With the great start he was up into 5th straight away but he never looked to challenge Button and more telling was that Massa was matching his pace and it was looking likely that he'd be able to get past. Which is what happened on lap 4, with both Massa and Alonso getting past. By the time he pitted on lap 15, his speed looked considerably off the pace, whether it was his decision or the teams to come in so late, 2 to 3 laps later than the other top ten runners, I think was definitely a mistake. From then on Petrov never looked like challenging the cars running P1 to P7 and my suspicion is that due to lack of setup time with the car, one of the tyre compounds just wasn't working for him. It was only in his last stint, as you'll see in the lap time chart later, that Petrov really picked up the pace and consistently lapped in the 1:41s.
Here are his lap times, including his pit strategy:
1:45.530
1:45.451
1:45.737
1:48.704
1:46.032
1:45.520
1:45.235
1:45.138
1:45.723
1:45.648
1:46.496
1:47.601
1:47.773
1:51.124
-Pit-
2:04.569
1:44.045
1:43.916
1:43.442
1:43.410
1:44.194
1:44.117
1:43.711
1:44.065
1:44.392
1:46.559
1:48.677
-Pit-
2:01.946
1:42.689
1:42.578
1:43.210
1:44.115
1:43.752
1:43.038
1:43.014
1:43.162
1:42.673
1:43.328
1:43.459
1:43.527
1:44.125
1:44.615
1:45.112
1:48.969
-Pit-
2:05.963
1:41.383
1:41.311
1:42.302
1:41.054
1:41.551
1:41.160
1:41.404
1:43.752
1:43.038
I should additionally point out that during his last pit stop, he lost something in the region of 5 seconds. However, nothing was broadcast as far as I could tell to show where that time went.
The consolations are there though, Vitaly's fastest lap put him third in the fastest lap charts behind Webber and Alonso and he set the fastest sector 1 time of the whole race with a 25.728. He also set the 5th and 4th fastest times through sectors 2 and 3 respectively.
Retirement:
Firstly, I think, unless any counter-evidence is provided, Vitaly will have to concede to making at least one error here. However, what I don't think is up for debate is the amount that he was 'punished' for that error. Potentially his first error was a simple case of running wide, not uncommon and certainly not a retirement-worthy mistake, he would have known before he left the track that he was going onto the run off area but he chose to try to maintain speed, presumably so that he could avoid slowing to get round the corner and almost certainly losing the place to a charging Hamilton who had come out of the pits behind him and lap or two prior.
The second potential error was keeping his foot in when rejoining the track across grass. This is a considerably greyer area than running wide, it would have come as quite a surprise to Vitaly that as he attempted to rejoin the track, he would be launched at least a foot in the air. His retirement shortly followed of course due to the other surprising thing, which was that the steering rod had seemingly become almost completely detached from the car.
Anyway, here's a video of the incident, and hopefully Vitaly can turn this weeks fortunes around next week, in China.
Classification: 17th
Laps: 52
Time: 1:31:40.647
Gap: DNF
KPH: 188.641
Fastest Lap: 1:41.057 (Lap 49)
Firstly let me say commiserations to Vitaly and I sincerely hope his back is ok after the incident, fortunately I haven't heard any news to suggest he was injured in any way but that can't have been a comfortable landing. And additionally, congratulations to Nick Heidfeld, obviously wanting to demonstrate that anything VP can do, he can do as well, going from 6th on the grid to a 3rd place podium.
In short, clearly this wasn't where Vitaly wanted to be at the end of Sunday. There are, however, some positives and consolations to consider after what was unquestionably an exciting and action packed Malaysian Grand Prix. Here's what he had to say at the end of it:
""First of all I am happy for the team as we got another podium, so we can consider this a great start to the season for us. It was a strong performance by the team in an unusual race. I made a small mistake which shouldn't have had the consequences it had. I went wide and the car took off on the curb, landing hard. Both cars should have been in the points today, but the good news is that we clearly have the pace needed to compete this season.""
The Start:
Unfortunately I can't find a video from the onboard camera that was shown on the coverage today. It must be out there somewhere and if I run into it I'll add it to this post later. The reason for wanting to include it in this post was it serves as yet another example of Petrov getting an amazing start, even when surrounded by arguably faster cars. Of course, the evidence points to the Renault being a flying started this year in general, Nick Heidfeld also demonstrated it's potential today.
To briefly decribe though, Webber had an awful start from 3rd allowing both Heidfeld and Alonso to get alongside him before they'd even reached the corner. It was this triple bank of cars that Vitaly soon found himself coming up on, so in order to continue making progress, he dived left to get on the outside of turn 1 and luckily, Nick was brave enough to pull alongside Hamilton in the corner and this allowed Vitaly to follow him round, giving both Renault drivers the inside line into turn 2. Unfortunately though Vitaly was squeezed out by both Hamilton and Button as they came out of the corner but 5th was a great position to be in from 8th on the grid.
Strategy and Race Pace:
Without looking at any extensive data or comparing lap times directly, just from watching the race, the impression I got was that Petrov (or the car, or both) didn't have the same pace displayed in Melbourne. With the great start he was up into 5th straight away but he never looked to challenge Button and more telling was that Massa was matching his pace and it was looking likely that he'd be able to get past. Which is what happened on lap 4, with both Massa and Alonso getting past. By the time he pitted on lap 15, his speed looked considerably off the pace, whether it was his decision or the teams to come in so late, 2 to 3 laps later than the other top ten runners, I think was definitely a mistake. From then on Petrov never looked like challenging the cars running P1 to P7 and my suspicion is that due to lack of setup time with the car, one of the tyre compounds just wasn't working for him. It was only in his last stint, as you'll see in the lap time chart later, that Petrov really picked up the pace and consistently lapped in the 1:41s.
Here are his lap times, including his pit strategy:
1:45.530
1:45.451
1:45.737
1:48.704
1:46.032
1:45.520
1:45.235
1:45.138
1:45.723
1:45.648
1:46.496
1:47.601
1:47.773
1:51.124
-Pit-
2:04.569
1:44.045
1:43.916
1:43.442
1:43.410
1:44.194
1:44.117
1:43.711
1:44.065
1:44.392
1:46.559
1:48.677
-Pit-
2:01.946
1:42.689
1:42.578
1:43.210
1:44.115
1:43.752
1:43.038
1:43.014
1:43.162
1:42.673
1:43.328
1:43.459
1:43.527
1:44.125
1:44.615
1:45.112
1:48.969
-Pit-
2:05.963
1:41.383
1:41.311
1:42.302
1:41.054
1:41.551
1:41.160
1:41.404
1:43.752
1:43.038
I should additionally point out that during his last pit stop, he lost something in the region of 5 seconds. However, nothing was broadcast as far as I could tell to show where that time went.
The consolations are there though, Vitaly's fastest lap put him third in the fastest lap charts behind Webber and Alonso and he set the fastest sector 1 time of the whole race with a 25.728. He also set the 5th and 4th fastest times through sectors 2 and 3 respectively.
Retirement:
Firstly, I think, unless any counter-evidence is provided, Vitaly will have to concede to making at least one error here. However, what I don't think is up for debate is the amount that he was 'punished' for that error. Potentially his first error was a simple case of running wide, not uncommon and certainly not a retirement-worthy mistake, he would have known before he left the track that he was going onto the run off area but he chose to try to maintain speed, presumably so that he could avoid slowing to get round the corner and almost certainly losing the place to a charging Hamilton who had come out of the pits behind him and lap or two prior.
The second potential error was keeping his foot in when rejoining the track across grass. This is a considerably greyer area than running wide, it would have come as quite a surprise to Vitaly that as he attempted to rejoin the track, he would be launched at least a foot in the air. His retirement shortly followed of course due to the other surprising thing, which was that the steering rod had seemingly become almost completely detached from the car.
Anyway, here's a video of the incident, and hopefully Vitaly can turn this weeks fortunes around next week, in China.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Round 02 - Malaysia: Qualifying
Overall Result: P8, 1:36.324
Initially the result felt a little disappointing, coming off the back of a podium finish at Melbourne to then qualify 8th and two places behind Heidfeld. However, in retrospect, the result is reassuring more than anything else. Firstly, with the incident in FP1 taking at least 1.5 to 2 hours out of potential running time this weekend, there was always the chance with this amount of lost time that Vitaly wouldn't be able to find a good setup at all. So for that reason alone, P8 is perfectly credible.
The other reassurance, with regards to being behind Nick on the grid, is that Q1 and Q2 times suggest that Petrov has the edge over his more experienced teammate with Vitaly being quicker in both and a mistake in the last two corners serving as a credible reason for him losing ground to the German. (See the video at the end of post.)
Here is how Qualifying went for Vitaly:
Q1
Number of Flying Laps: 1
Tyre Choice: Option
Time: 1:37.210
Placement: 7th
Q2
Number of Flying Laps: 1
Tyre Choice: Option
Time: 1:36.642
Placement: 8th
Q3
Number of Flying Laps: 1
Tyre Choice: Option
Time: 1:36.324
Placement 8th
Speed Trap
Placement: 6th
Speed: 306.4km/h
Best Sector Times
S1: 24.777 (6th)
S2: 32.424 (9th)
S3: 39.123 (7th)
Everything seems very consistent, which in a way is reassuring, consistency is the first step in improving on the driver from last year. Everything also points to the position of the car, relative to the other teams, clearly Red Bull and Mclaren are out of reach in terms of raw speed at the moment but compared to Ferrari, there seems to be very little between themselves and Renault.
Here's some onboard footage of qualifying, I believe this is from Q3, at the end of his one and only flying lap where you can clearly see him locking the right front into turn 13 (I think? not sure on the number exactly) and consequently flat-spotting the tyre. Then into the last corner he runs perhaps a little wider than would be ideal (whether this is due to the flat spot, I don't have the experience to say), although it must be said that quite a few drivers were taking the corner wider than usual during the session as a whole.
Initially the result felt a little disappointing, coming off the back of a podium finish at Melbourne to then qualify 8th and two places behind Heidfeld. However, in retrospect, the result is reassuring more than anything else. Firstly, with the incident in FP1 taking at least 1.5 to 2 hours out of potential running time this weekend, there was always the chance with this amount of lost time that Vitaly wouldn't be able to find a good setup at all. So for that reason alone, P8 is perfectly credible.
The other reassurance, with regards to being behind Nick on the grid, is that Q1 and Q2 times suggest that Petrov has the edge over his more experienced teammate with Vitaly being quicker in both and a mistake in the last two corners serving as a credible reason for him losing ground to the German. (See the video at the end of post.)
Here is how Qualifying went for Vitaly:
Q1
Number of Flying Laps: 1
Tyre Choice: Option
Time: 1:37.210
Placement: 7th
Q2
Number of Flying Laps: 1
Tyre Choice: Option
Time: 1:36.642
Placement: 8th
Q3
Number of Flying Laps: 1
Tyre Choice: Option
Time: 1:36.324
Placement 8th
Speed Trap
Placement: 6th
Speed: 306.4km/h
Best Sector Times
S1: 24.777 (6th)
S2: 32.424 (9th)
S3: 39.123 (7th)
Everything seems very consistent, which in a way is reassuring, consistency is the first step in improving on the driver from last year. Everything also points to the position of the car, relative to the other teams, clearly Red Bull and Mclaren are out of reach in terms of raw speed at the moment but compared to Ferrari, there seems to be very little between themselves and Renault.
Here's some onboard footage of qualifying, I believe this is from Q3, at the end of his one and only flying lap where you can clearly see him locking the right front into turn 13 (I think? not sure on the number exactly) and consequently flat-spotting the tyre. Then into the last corner he runs perhaps a little wider than would be ideal (whether this is due to the flat spot, I don't have the experience to say), although it must be said that quite a few drivers were taking the corner wider than usual during the session as a whole.
Round 02 - Malaysia: FP1, FP2 & FP3
Practice 1 - 1:47.932, 24th
Practice 1 was ruined for Vitaly who after setting just the one lap time (1:47.932) ended up in sand trap at turn 9. The reason for this is open to some conjecture, especially since Heidfeld suffered a similar issue a few laps previously, limping back to the pits with a completely locked left-front. The initial thought and speculation was that it was a brake failure, however, this was denied by Renault, who claimed that it was a faulty material batch.
"We quickly established that the two failed items had come from the same material batch and that nothing from this batch had run prior to today." - James Allison
"We suspect there is a materials issue because it is the same design, everything is the same except it was a new part." - Eric Boullier
There has been some additional rumours (and I stress, rumours) that in trying to re-create a Red Bull-esque flexible front wing, Renault fitted both cars with a new part but with an obviously disastrous outcome.
Anyway, this is what it looked like from onboard the car:
(Yes, the title of the video suggests FP2, but the incident happened in FP1)
Practice 2 - 1:39.267, 13th
Unfortunately, the incident from the morning session had a knock on effect into FP2, with Renault wanting to ensure the car was completely safe before sending the drivers back out. Eventually though both drivers managed to get some laps in, here are Vitaly's stints:
1:51.111
1:45.546
1:43.608
1:42.070
1:50.123
-Pit-
1:39.267
1:43.984
1:39.414
1:48.579
-Pit-
1:46.642
1:46.216
1:47.174
2:18.412
2:15.852
Here's what Vitaly had to say at the end of Friday:
“It wasn't the best day. The problem in the morning was quite a surprise and we decided not to run until late in the afternoon when we had understood things properly. When I did finally get out, the car felt fine, but the time we had was very limited and we didn't really manage to do any set-up work. As we expected, the degradation rates are very high here, especially for the soft tyres, but they definitely had more grip and were a couple of seconds quicker than the hard. However, tomorrow is a new day and I think we can still have a good weekend."
Practice 3 - 1:37.297, 7th
Vitaly proving his statement from the day before, tomorrow really is a new day with both Renaults finally showing some of the speed he displayed in Melbourne, Nick finishing the session in 4th and Vitaly 7th.
1:47.673
1:39.884
1:46.244
1:39.324
1:51.672
-Pit-
1:42.619
1:39.698
1:49.345
1:55.958
-Pit-
1:37.297
1:52.574
1:37.662
1:45.210
Practice 1 was ruined for Vitaly who after setting just the one lap time (1:47.932) ended up in sand trap at turn 9. The reason for this is open to some conjecture, especially since Heidfeld suffered a similar issue a few laps previously, limping back to the pits with a completely locked left-front. The initial thought and speculation was that it was a brake failure, however, this was denied by Renault, who claimed that it was a faulty material batch.
"We quickly established that the two failed items had come from the same material batch and that nothing from this batch had run prior to today." - James Allison
"We suspect there is a materials issue because it is the same design, everything is the same except it was a new part." - Eric Boullier
There has been some additional rumours (and I stress, rumours) that in trying to re-create a Red Bull-esque flexible front wing, Renault fitted both cars with a new part but with an obviously disastrous outcome.
Anyway, this is what it looked like from onboard the car:
(Yes, the title of the video suggests FP2, but the incident happened in FP1)
Practice 2 - 1:39.267, 13th
Unfortunately, the incident from the morning session had a knock on effect into FP2, with Renault wanting to ensure the car was completely safe before sending the drivers back out. Eventually though both drivers managed to get some laps in, here are Vitaly's stints:
1:51.111
1:45.546
1:43.608
1:42.070
1:50.123
-Pit-
1:39.267
1:43.984
1:39.414
1:48.579
-Pit-
1:46.642
1:46.216
1:47.174
2:18.412
2:15.852
Here's what Vitaly had to say at the end of Friday:
“It wasn't the best day. The problem in the morning was quite a surprise and we decided not to run until late in the afternoon when we had understood things properly. When I did finally get out, the car felt fine, but the time we had was very limited and we didn't really manage to do any set-up work. As we expected, the degradation rates are very high here, especially for the soft tyres, but they definitely had more grip and were a couple of seconds quicker than the hard. However, tomorrow is a new day and I think we can still have a good weekend."
Practice 3 - 1:37.297, 7th
Vitaly proving his statement from the day before, tomorrow really is a new day with both Renaults finally showing some of the speed he displayed in Melbourne, Nick finishing the session in 4th and Vitaly 7th.
1:47.673
1:39.884
1:46.244
1:39.324
1:51.672
-Pit-
1:42.619
1:39.698
1:49.345
1:55.958
-Pit-
1:37.297
1:52.574
1:37.662
1:45.210
2010 Highlights
Here are the moments from 2010 that gave perceptive viewers a look at Petrov's genuine potential.
Flying start in Australia:
Cutting his teeth with Hamilton in Malaysia:
Overtaking the 7 times world champion in China:
The first encounter with Alonso, holding him up for most of the race until finally having his wheel punctured as he was passed. Additionally, Turkey was where Vitaly recorded his first ever fastest lap during a race.
Petrov qualifies 7th for the Hungarian GP with an awesome lap, bettering Kubica for the first time and then has a great race to 5th, his best finish of the season.
Despite a disappointing mistake in qualifying, has a fantastic race in Spa, going from 23rd to 9th, including one of the overtaking maneuvers of the year on Rosberg.
And finally ending the season on a high note, keeping world championship contender Alonso behind him with a truly skilled defending drive and then giving another perfectly weighted media response afterwards.
Flying start in Australia:
Overtaking the 7 times world champion in China:
The first encounter with Alonso, holding him up for most of the race until finally having his wheel punctured as he was passed. Additionally, Turkey was where Vitaly recorded his first ever fastest lap during a race.
Petrov qualifies 7th for the Hungarian GP with an awesome lap, bettering Kubica for the first time and then has a great race to 5th, his best finish of the season.
Despite a disappointing mistake in qualifying, has a fantastic race in Spa, going from 23rd to 9th, including one of the overtaking maneuvers of the year on Rosberg.
And finally ending the season on a high note, keeping world championship contender Alonso behind him with a truly skilled defending drive and then giving another perfectly weighted media response afterwards.
2011 Qantas Australian Grand Prix - Post-Race Reflections & Blog Introduction
It goes without saying that as a follower of Vitaly Petrov for 2 years and a fan since he made his Formula 1 debut, the 2011 Australian Grand Prix will be one I won't soon forget. This time last year I was deeply considering whether my newfound driver was going to cause a repeat of the disappointment I'd had the previous few years following Nakajima.
This probably already explains two things about my personality when it comes to following Formula 1:
1st: I'm a sucker for an underdog.
2nd: I'm not opposed to 'pay-drivers' in the sport.
There was no point in regretting my decision however, there is no satisfaction in changing which driver you support based on his on-track performances. If that was the type of mentality I subscribed to, I may as well have just decided to support Hamilton or Alonso from the start.
Besides, as it turns out, it was his personality off-track that endeared me to him much more than his early performances. His simple and often blunt understanding of English, his honesty and of his genuinely pleasant demeanor. Clearly it's just a personal thing but I simply can't support a driver who I also wouldn't want to be friends with.
As I'm starting this blog two weeks after the Australian Grand Prix weekend, I won't put up any timing or technical information from Australia but I fully intend to from now onwards.
This probably already explains two things about my personality when it comes to following Formula 1:
1st: I'm a sucker for an underdog.
2nd: I'm not opposed to 'pay-drivers' in the sport.
There was no point in regretting my decision however, there is no satisfaction in changing which driver you support based on his on-track performances. If that was the type of mentality I subscribed to, I may as well have just decided to support Hamilton or Alonso from the start.
Besides, as it turns out, it was his personality off-track that endeared me to him much more than his early performances. His simple and often blunt understanding of English, his honesty and of his genuinely pleasant demeanor. Clearly it's just a personal thing but I simply can't support a driver who I also wouldn't want to be friends with.
As I'm starting this blog two weeks after the Australian Grand Prix weekend, I won't put up any timing or technical information from Australia but I fully intend to from now onwards.
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| (March 26, 2011 - Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images AsiaPac) |
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