Renault Signs Vitaly Petrov for 2010 Season - Report

Vitaly Petrov will become Robert Kubica's teammate at Renault F1 for the 2010 Formula One season. While still waiting for an official confirmation from the Enstone based team, France's Auto Hebdo went right ahead to predict that the Russian driver will sign a one-year agreement with Renault this Sunday.

Renault F1 also planned their car launch on Sunday, one day before the official start of the testing season, in Valencia. It will be during the same media event that the team will officially confirm the former GP2 driver as Kubica's teammate, while Dutch born Chinese Ho-Pin Tung is set to become Renault's reserve driver through the duration of the entire season.

Earlier this month, it surfaced in the media that Petrov will come to Formula One with a 15 million euro of sponsorship backing from Russian investors. Carrying that amount of money would most definitely secure him a race spot in the series, only it was unclear whether he'll take his sponsors to Renault or Campos Grand Prix.

Should this latest report from Auto Hebdo prove to be true, that would mean the Top 3 runners in last year's GP2 Series have all secured driving deals in Formula One. While championship winner Nico Hulkenberg was the first one to sign a racing agreement with Williams F1, 3rd placed Lucas di Grassi has also committed to a one-year deal with Virgin Racing.

Petrov ended the last year's campaign in the runner-up spot, but has been in the rumor mill for securing a spot in the 2010 Formula One championship ever since November 2009. Petrov will therefore become the first Russian driver to ever set foot in F1.