18/11/2011
NEWS STORY
Following negative comments made to a Russian TV channel in the wake of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Vitaly Petrov's manager says the Renault racer apologises for his outburst.
In a stinging attack, which clearly puts the Russian's future with Renault in serious doubt - with Williams also - Petrov accused the team of lacking ambition, claiming that there had been no improvements since the start of the season. He also blasted the team's strategy, its management and claimed that those upgrades which did appear were "useless".
Speaking to Reuters, Oksana Kossatchenko, says that Petrov's comments were made in the heat of the moment last weekend, following another difficult outing which saw the 27-year-old finish thirteenth.
"It was an emotional interview," she said. "It was an exception and he apologised afterwards to the team. It will never happen again.
"We are really sorry and the management has discussed it with Vitaly already," she added, revealing that she has already spoken to both team manager Eric Boullier and owner Gerard Lopez.
In the team's preview to the forthcoming Brazilian Grand Prix, Petrov, when asked about his comments, says: "Let's just say that I acted a bit stupidly. I was very disappointed, very tired, I had to answer a lot of questions and somehow I didn't handle it correctly. But I had a chat with the team later on and everything is now OK."
"The interview was made minutes after Vitaly jumped out of the car last Sunday," added Boullier. "The race was tough, he was upset not to have scored points, he was exhausted. Drivers are not robots, they're human beings. Also, like every driver, Vitaly is a competitor. Had he been on the podium in Abu Dhabi, he would have complained about not winning the race. We take this incident as exactly this - an incident. Vitaly has apologised to the team and sent an email to all the staff at Enstone. As far as we are concerned, the matter is closed."