Can you believe Petrov? I figured he was a paid driver who was a talentless pig, but he really drove the wheels off that Renault.
And the Frenchies seem much more sporting this season, which is surprise. I guess they just needed to drop the Roman playboy.
They can keep his wife though, she’s a baby.
F1's first Russian driver failed to finish the opening three races of the 2010 season, however, he broke that run of bad luck in Shanghai by beating the likes of Mark Webber and Michael Schumacher to seventh place and six world championship points, the first of his career.
Petrov's call to stay out on slicks at the start of the race when many of the front-runners pitted for intermediate tyres, helped him to make great gains in the opening laps of the grand prix and stood him in good stead for later in the race.
The 2009 GP2 runner-up timed his pit-stop to perfection and managed his tyres well throughout, giving him a distinct performance advantage over his rivals in the closing laps of the grand prix, while others struggled with severe tyre degradation.
"I am happy, but I always want more, so I'm not satisfied to finish only seventh because I must aim even higher," said Petrov.
"At the beginning of the race, we had to take a difficult decision about the tyres: some drivers, like the Red Bull guys, came in and it was all a bit crazy, but we decided to stay out on slicks and it was a good decision.
"At first, it was quite difficult to understand how hard to push, because we didn't know if the circuit would stay wet or start to dry out.
"Also, my helmet was full of water, so that made things a bit more difficult.
"My car was much quicker and my engineer, Mark Slade, told me that my pace was good, that I should continue to push, but also that I had to look after the condition of the left front tyre.
"Schumacher and Webber were both struggling with the tyres, but they were very fair with me, and I did some clean moves to pass them."
Petrov said his first F1 points finish was a reward for his engineers' hard work on getting his car fixed in time for qualifying, following his crash during third practice, where he went nose-first into the Armco at the final turn.
"We have done a fantastic job together and this Renault team feels really like a family," said Petrov.
"My mechanics did a brilliant job to rebuild the car between third practice and the race yesterday, and it was good to give them this reward by finishing in the points.
"The car is not too bad at the moment, but we know that we still need to work to make it even better.
"We're looking forward with a positive feeling, and we will be doing our maximum."
Petrov's team-mate Robert Kubica also finished in the points in fifth, adding an additional ten points to Renault's tally in the constructors' table.
Kubica's result puts him in seventh in the drivers' standings, just one point adrift of Felipe Massa who led the championship heading to China, while Petrov's result has reinforced Renault's fifth place in the constructors'.
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