Petrov aims to impress

Vitaly Petrov is confident that he can make a good impression on his Formula 1 baptism with Renault this year, despite his lack of mileage.

The Russian (left) had not driven an F1 car until after he was confirmed by the team, and his testing programme was badly disrupted by the bad weather at Jerez. But Petrov does have three seasons of GP2 behind him, and was runner-up in last year’s series.

“It will be hard,” he told Motor Sport. “But it’s like everywhere – when you come to another championship it’s always hard when there are guys already with a few years in this series. But we’ll try our best and I’m quite sure that it’s a good car. The team has already been champions and they can be again.”

Intriguingly, Russia can already lay claim to an F1 World Champion, since Emerson Fittipaldi’s mother was born in the country and spent her early years there before her family emigrated. [Dubious claim of the month! – Ed]