‘Caterham was Petrov’s only option’

Editor

Vitaly Petrov’s Formula One could be over after the Russian driver failed to secure a race-seat with Caterham for this season.

Despite his Brazilian GP drive assuring Caterham of tenth place in last year’s Constructors’ Championship, the team did not offer the 28-year-old a new deal.

Petrov, though, had held out hope but that ended last Friday when the team confirmed Giedo van der Garde as Charles Pic’s 2013 team-mate.

“For Vitaly, it was the only possibility to stay in F1 in 2013,” his manager Oksana Kosachenko told R-Sport. “We knew this a few days ago, about the decision of the team, which we have to respect. I wouldn’t say we didn’t expect it.”

Kosachenko is now looking at other options, revealing Petrov had a “few offers to stay in F1 and around the paddock”.

Ironically, Kosachenko hit out at paying drivers in Formula One despite Petrov being one.

“Formula One is really expensive at the moment. Actually it isn’t a sport at the moment, it’s tending to be a show, and I believe that we have more and more and more rental drivers in Formula One,” she concluded.