Asked by his team to start scoring some points in the series, Petrov began the weekend as usual, with a 13th spot on the grid in the Saturday qualifying – hadn't it been for one little mistake in the end, he would have had a good shot at a Q3 entry. On Sunday however, he kept his Renault R30 out of trouble and scored one valuable point at the finish line, ending the race 3 positions down from teammate Robert Kubica.
Although he barely made the points, considering Renault's recent struggle in the championship – Williams F1 and Force India have really upped their game in recent events – that results was welcomed by his team boss Eric Boullier, who was impressed with Petrov's pace throughout the Hockenheim weekend.
“The race was just brilliant - you can't say any more that that - he matched Robert Kubica's pace. He was consistent and pushed when we asked him to push for strategic reasons to make sure that we passed the Williams cars and Kobayashi. He did very well,” said the French team manager.
“We have recently asked him to score points and raise his game, and he did that. Now he has to do it every weekend and if he does, he has a great future in Formula 1,” added Boullier.
Notice how he said “in Formula 1” rather than “at Renault”? That should give us a little hint on his team's plans for the future, especially since there are no less than 7 drivers linked with a potential deal with Renault for the 2011 season. Names like Kimi Raikkonen, Adrian Sutil, Timo Glock and even Nick Heidfeld are on that list, so Petrov still has a long way to go until making sure he's in F1 to stay.
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