Russian Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov is “really pleased” with his 13th place finish at the European Grand Prix, he said Sunday.
Petrov held 10th at one stage, putting him in line for his Caterham team’s first point, but was forced to pit for a new front wing after a shunt and battled back to 13th, beating teammate Heikki Kovalainen on the way.
The result is his best since joining Caterham this season.
"I'm really pleased with how today's race went,” he said on the Caterham website.
“Even though we were running tenth at one point I'm not sure a point was quite within reach today, but it's really encouraging to see how we've progressed here.”
Caterham will be even better at the next race at Britain’s Silverstone track on July 8, Petrov said.
“We know we have more to come in Silverstone so we have something good to fight for and that's great for the whole team,” he said.
Petrov’s previous best finish of the season was 16th at the Malaysia and Bahrain Grands Prix.
The best result of his career came with Lotus Renault in 2011, when he was third at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
He finished 10th in that year’s championship standings.
