Vitaly Petrov has praised new team-mate Bruno Senna for doing ‘a fantastic job’ over the course of his first full Grand Prix weekend for the Lotus Renault GP squad, with the Brazilian driver having been on the sidelines since being replaced at HRT last year. Senna will start from seventh during this afternoon’s race, with Petrov back in tenth.
"So far he has done a fantastic job on his first race weekend for Renault," Petrov told the official Formula 1 website. "Okay, he knows this track from other series and it was wet which always makes it easier for a rookie, as it was with me last year. But that doesn’t detract from his performance. He can be very proud of his result today."
When asked how it felt to be out-qualified by Senna during their first qualifying session as team-mates, Petrov said he was not concerned by the deficit and put it down to a simple but costly error in Q3.
"I have no issue with it at all," the Russian explained. "Actually qualifying was very difficult and I’ve ruined my tyres. I think it was one of the most difficult qualifying sessions of the season so far because of the permanently changing track conditions.
"Then in Q3 I spun in Turn 16 when I lost the grip on the rear end. I still don’t know why it happened. So taking this lapse into account, I am not too unhappy with my tenth place. I am a bit angry with myself as Q1 and Q2 worked very well - then there was this stupid mistake! But it was my first mistake in Q3 this year so I guess I can live with it."
Further post-qualifying feelings from Renault:
Senna surprised by top ten result
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:48.298 | 22 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:48.730 | 21 |
| 3. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:49.376 | 23 |
| 4. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:50.256 | 21 |
| 5. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:50.552 | 23 |
| 6. | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 01:50.773 | 24 |
| 7. | B. Senna | Lotus Renault | 01:51.121 | 24 |
| 8. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:51.251 | 22 |
| 9. | S. Perez | Sauber | 01:51.374 | 24 |
| 10. | V. Petrov | Lotus Renault | 01:52.303 | 23 |
| Full results | ||||
| Bruno Senna | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Bruno Senna photos | |||
| Vitaly Petrov | |||
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| More Vitaly Petrov photos | |||
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