Petrov Not Sorry for Keeping Alonso Out of Title Reach

Fernando Alonso tried endlessly to get past Renault's Vitaly Petrov during the majority of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, yet the Russian driver defended brilliantly and left nothing to chance as he eventually finished the race in 6th place.

And even though Alonso gesticulated angrily at his Renault counterpart in the slow lap after the race, the Russian feels at ease with his racing on Sunday. While admitting that he would have probably let Alonso pass in case the Spaniard had taken a kamikaze approach to overtake him, Petrov insisted he did his own race and did not think too much about the championship implications of his battle with the Spaniard.

“I do my own racing. I did my race; I did the maximum performance that I could take for his race. I cannot just let one car pass me because it is racing,” said Petrov, according to Autosport. He also exemplified his race behavior with what happened back in 2008, during the season finale in Brazil.

“Even Sebastian Vettel in 2008, he was behind [Lewis] Hamilton [in Brazil] and then he passed Lewis, who almost lost the championship. But he was lucky because [Timo] Glock was so slow. He also was not thinking about who he was battling with,” added the Russian.

However, he did admit that he would have probably behaved the same as Alonso if he were in his shoes, which is why he avoided to confront the Spaniard after the race.

“I think he was angry. So I think there is no reason to talk to him right now. But I would be in the same condition if it happened to me. If I was in his situation I would also be angry, but he should be angry with himself or with his team because they did maybe the wrong strategy or something.”