However, in order to make that perfectly clear for anyone, Petrov's female manager Oksana Kosachenko told the Rossiya 2 television channel that not only her client will be in F1 next season, but for “many years.” However, she did not mention whether the racer's employer will continue to be Renault, or some other team.
“I want to reassure all the fans, Vitaly will remain in Formula One next year, and the year after and three years from now,” Kosachenko was quoted as saying for the aforementioned source.
Regarding the same prospect of being able to stick around until F1 travels to Russia in 2014, Petrov admitted it would be nice to drive an F1 car in front of a home crowd.
“Almost all the drivers already have a home race so I hope that I can experience the same special feeling of racing at home in a few years' time,” said Petrov, voicing his desire to build up a durable career in the series.
Rumors about the prospect of Renault ousting Petrov for the 2011 season of F1 have surfaced in the media for months now, with plenty of experienced drivers allegedly talking to Renault about a job for next season. Among those, we can name former F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen, who recently said he wants nothing to hear about a potential F1 return with the Enstone based team, Adrian Sutil, Nick Heidfeld or Timo Glock.
However, Renault's boss Eric Boullier admitted that keeping Petrov for next year is also a possibility, once the Russian will prove he can match, or at least back, the performances of his teammate Robert Kubica in race and qualifying. A decision on his future with the team is expected to be made after the season ends.
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