Russian racer Vitaly Petrov is known as the driver of the Caterham F1 Team. He is the first Russian to compete in the championship. The first he was on the podium of the Grand Prix. Vitalia Petrov is an Honored Master of Sports.
All pilots of the most prestigious races have to go through many obstacles to be in the team. Vitaly Petrov managed to break this tradition. He literally burst into the paddock at full speed.
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The future athlete was born in Vyborg in early autumn 1984. His younger brother Sergei became a talented musician. The boy has been interested in cars since childhood. He sat behind the wheel for the first time at the age of five. Vitaly was also fascinated by equestrian sports and boats.
Petrov studied well. After completing school, the graduate entered the RANEPA to continue his education. Passion for sports has not passed over time. The boy did not want to drive on the map. He liked ice racing and rally-sprint much more. At fourteen, the driver first took part in the competition. He finished fourteenth.
From the age of seventeen, Petrov participated in the Lada Cup. He showed amazing results. After almost a year of participation in the series, Vitaly moved to Formula Renault. From 2003 to 2004, the athlete was a member of Euronova Racing. He finished fourth in the British Championship run.
The Formula 3000 debut took place in Cagliari. Vitaly did not receive any serious prizes due to lack of experience. And professional races are incomparable with amateur ones. Returning to Russia, Vitaly took up national championships.
Here a sharp turn in the biography took place. He almost immediately became the owner of the champion title of the country, and took the cup in the "Lada Revolution Cup Russia". More experienced Vitaly returned to Europe. He was already the third at Euroseries-3000. Four victories were won in a row and is occupied by pole position in Brno.
Meteoric rise
The path to the GP2 series was opened for the novice rider. Petrov won four more times. In the 2008 season, Vitaly came third. In 2009, he finished second. By the end, Vitaly was vice-champion.
In 2010, a contract was signed with Renault F1. Petrov became the first pilot from Russia. At the beginning of spring 2010, the new Renault R30 racer was presented. Playing for the French team implied student status.
The debut in the 2010 season took place in the Bahrain Grand Prix. The management noted some successful performances. Under the contract, Petrov became a member of Lotus Renault. In 2011, he took third place, several times found himself in the points zone. The pilot did not justify the team's excuses and left.
The new year has begun with Caterham. There were no encouraging results. I had to leave the "Catechs" too. 2014 was also a failure with Mercedes AMG. Neither a powerful car nor support helped to rise above the beginning of the third ten. Since 2015, the athlete was taken out of the team's staff.
In 2016 Vitaly competed in the LMP2 endurance races for SMP Racing.
The famous racer is called the eligible groom. However, the athlete is elusive. His heart is still open to fans. Petrov's personal life is of much less interest than sports. In 2012, information appeared about his affair with Alexandra Pavlova.
Private life
She danced in the St. Petersburg club "Lemon" in 2006, and since 2016 she worked as a TV presenter of the "Humor box" channel. Young people have attended events together several times since 2012. However, no one has provided any confirmation or denial of the relationship. So far, the vacancy of the wife of the famous racer remains free.
Petrov does not abandon plans to participate in Formula 1. The SMP Racing team was founded by Boris Rotenberg, a former Renault sponsor. He said that he dreams of participating in the famous races of the national team. Athletes do their best, but they are just learning.
The new project of SMP Racing is called the domestic Formula 4 series. According to Rotenberg, serious preparations are underway for Formula 1.
Since 2017, Vitaly has joined Manor. He is confident that the results of the project will be impressive. However, a lot also depends on the composition of the participants. After qualifying and testing, there is a chance to determine if additional time will be required before the competition.
In mid-April 2017, Vitaly took part in Maxim Galkin's program "Best of All". The athlete is passionate about judo and taekwando. He collects playing cards, bringing them from places he visited.
Time present
Vitaly calls the outstanding boxer Muhammad Ali an idol. The athlete was engaged in dubbing the cartoon "Cars". Petrov presented his voice to the typewriter. Petrov lives permanently in the UK, in Oxford.
The racer who received the nickname "Vyborg Rocket" took part in the presentation of the "Golden Gramophone-2013" award, visited Baikonur. He took part in the Olympic torch relay.
After parting with DTM, the athlete took time out for a year. He took part in the Vyborg Cup and other similar competitions. After a highly controversial season result in the most prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race, third place was taken. The achievement was considered very impressive. However, the crew did not take part in the battle for high positions in the overall standings. The guys' car turned out to be the most reliable, but far from the fastest.
Petrov's wanderings around the world of racing are not over yet. He continues to work with SMP Racing. The athlete was testing a prototype for the LMP1, which started in 2018. Vitaly is also involved as an expert. The racer writes a column on the Motorsport website and often appears on television.
