Petrov Insists He Will Not Be No 2 Driver at Renault

Russian driver Vitaly Petrov denied the fact that he signed a deal with Renault F1 simply to become a second driver in Formula One. While clearly benefiting from less experience in the series as compared to his teammate Robert Kubica – he is, in fact, a rookie – the GP2 Series runner-up believes only the season will tell who will be the primary driver of the team and who won't.

“The races have not yet begun, so maybe he (Kubica) will be the number two. Every driver is responsible for himself,” explained Petrov, when talking to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

The 25-year old has reportedly secured his seat with Renault F1 in exchange of 15 million Euros, a sum of money that is yet to enter the team's accounts. The first payment is expected to be made by Petrov's father by March 1st, or else there's a high chance that the Genii Capital-controlled team will oust the Russian driver ahead of the start of the 2010 season.

According to a recent report from Sovetsky Sport, “a petition signed by some of Petrov's athlete colleagues has been sent to Russian president Vladimir Putin, in the hope of getting help to raise the missing EUR7.5m,” as reported by the GMM news agency.

According to RIA Novosti, Petrov has already been set a points tally for the 2010 season of Formula One, as he is expected to score at least a quarter of the points achieved by Kubica by the end of the year. Otherwise, the team has the right to oust Petrov at the end of 2010 without any prior notice.

Petrov will have one more testing session ahead of him before the March 1st deadline, at Barcelona, where he is scheduled to drive the R30 for 2 days.