Vitaly Petrov has secured a drive with Caterham for the upcoming F1 season, joining Heikki Kovalainen as Jarno Trulli is ousted from the sport. Along with Rubens Barrichello, this leaves two ex race winners on the sidelines in 2012.
At the end of 2011, Petrov was left out of a drive as Renault (now Lotus) replaced both he and Bruno Senna. Recently, the Russian had been waiting on a slow sponsor before making any announcements, although replacing Trulli had become likely.
“This is a very exciting day for me,” he comments. “I would like to thank Tony, Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin for giving me the chance to join a team that made its F1 debut at the same time as me and has grown from one of the new teams to a serious force for future honours.
"The passion and spirit that Tony (Fernandes, Team Principal and CEO) and the whole team have to keep moving forwards is infectious and I am honoured to be able to join them and play my part in helping the team mount a serious challenge to the teams ahead in 2012 and for many seasons to come.
“I have been training hard all winter and am ready to get back into the cockpit and go to work. From what I have seen already, our new car is another good step forward from 2011 and now I cannot wait to see how it feels when we get to Barcelona. I would also like to take this chance to thank all my fans and partners for their support and their patience.”
Team Principal and CEO Tony Fernandes explains the decision:
"We have reached agreement with Jarno to bring an end to our partnership with him, but he will always be part of our family. Now we want to integrate Vitaly as quickly as possible into the team and we will do everything we can to welcome him in, give him a car he can use to showcase his skills and keep up the rate of development that has seen us go from an empty factory with just four employees to a fully established Formula 1 team in just over two years."
Petrov scored a maiden F1 podium finish for Renault at last year’s Australian Grand Prix. Had he not secured a race deal, the Vyborg man was also in talks with Pirelli with regards to becoming the company's tyre tester. The Caterham line-up change is the team’s first since entering the sport, excluding the brief replacement of Trulli as Karun Chandhok raced in Germany last year.
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