Petrov optimistic after retiring from season’s opening Grand Prix in Melbourn

Russian Formula-1 star Vitaly Petrov stayed optimistic despite both Caterham drives retiring from the race due to technical problems with their drives.

«I was having a fantastic race and it’s such a shame we had to retire the car. Until that point everything was going exactly to plan. The team did a great to job to help me pass Heikki in the first stop, I was catching Senna and Massa ahead and the car felt really well balanced,» the former Lotus-Renault driver stated.

«I was managing the tyres well and we definitely showed the sort of pace that can bring rewards this season, so while it’s obviously not how we wanted the first race with my new team to go we can take a lot of positives from this and move on to Malaysia where we know we can put in a strong performance,» Petrov said, as quoted on the Caterham website.»

The Russian was 20th in the final standings. Brit Jenson Button of Maclaren won the race, while Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Louis Hamilton were the runners-up.