Given the multitude of rumors regarding Renault's 2011 lineup – one driver will surely be there, in the person of Robert Kubica, who has recently signed a 2-year extension to his current deal – team boss Eric Boullier insisted that Petrov's future at Enstone depends entirely on him and his ability to improve his consistency in the series.
“His future is in his hands. We have not been disappointed by him - he clearly is the best rookie in the paddock. He did some very amazing jobs sometimes (but) he's clearly today lacking some consistency to get the points he deserves,” said Boullier in a Renault team podcast following the British Grand Prix.
With drivers like Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil knocking on Renault's door for the 2011 season – sort of speak – Boullier admitted that one condition for Petrov to hold the upper hand over those two in future contract talks with the team is for the Russian to start making more appearances on the scoreboard.
“We definitely need to have both cars scoring points, so that's obviously creating some rumours surrounding his race seat. But we are totally committed to him. We are happy to have him on board and we will do everything we can to help him take the final step to where we want him to be,” added the French team manager.
Petrov made a single Top 10 appearance in the 2010 Formula One season so far, a 7th place finish in China. Out of his team's 89 points in 2010, 83 were scored by his teammate Robert Kubica.
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