Canada’s long straights mean opportunity - Petrov
After an unfortunate end to his Monaco race due to a crash into the barriers, Lotus Renault GP driver Vitaly Petrov discusses his excitement at getting back to action at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit at Montreal.
Looking back at Monaco, you were having a good race up until the incident weren’t you? "Definitely, yes. Up until the incident, things were going really well, fantastically well in fact given what our qualifying positions were beforehand. We could have finished third or fourth I think. Third would have been a real push but fourth was not beyond possibility, because my pace was not bad and I managed to save the tyres. I had some bad luck and there was a lot of traffic in front of me. Pastor (Maldonado) and Adrian (Sutil) were both slow, and it was very difficult to overtake them. Everything else on the day was going to plan, so it’s just a shame we could not have had more success with the final result."
How are you feeling now as we look forward to Canada? "Physically I’m feeling fine with no problems. I’m feeling better than I was after the race in Monaco. My ankle is fine and I don’t see any problems for the race here in Canada."
The Canadian Grand Prix has always been a popular one, is it a circuit you enjoy racing at? "Last year was my first time at the track, so it’s not a circuit I know that well. It’s not an easy race because the tarmac is quite unusual and we had so much degradation there with Bridgestone. We hope that it will be a different story with Pirelli, but we are going to have to see because so far this year, the tyres have been a hot topic at every race. The track does have long straights, which will offer us a chance to show our quick straight line speed, but there are also slow corners so it will be important to brake well to help preserve the tyres – it’s a real balancing act here in Montreal."
What are your objectives for this race? "Above all, we must get to the finish line and score some good points because we know we can do it. We are well aware that our car is very quick so we need to minimise our mistakes and the results will come."
Do you think the Pirelli tyres will play a big role here? "It’s a difficult question to answer because in Monaco we did not feel we would be able to race with just one pit stop, but in the end we did manage to. The tyres are certainly a talking point this season, and we have seen some heavy degradation at the different circuits over the last couple of months but you can’t argue it hasn’t made the sport more exciting for spectators."
Source Lotus Renault
