Caterham driver Vitaly Petrov was delighted with the performance of his car during the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Russian improved on his qualifying position by three places to finish 15th, right behind his teammate Heikki Kovalainen.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won the race, with Sergio Perez finishing second and F1 championship leader Fernando Alonso third.

Unlike Saturday, when he said braking problems prevented him from challenging as he would have liked, Petrov was happy with how the team had improved the car for the race.

"My car felt fantastic all afternoon so thanks to the team for giving me a car I could push my teammate with right up to the last lap,” Petrov was quoted by the Caterham’s website.

“The pitstops were good and the mechanics and engineers did a great job to keep me in the hunt with Heikki.”

Besides the good race, the driver had another reason for celebration, with his 28th birthday on Saturday.

"It was my birthday yesterday and I had a quiet dinner with some friends. Now I can go out and celebrate a bit more and that'll be a good way to finish the European races this year."