We still need to keep working hard - Petrov

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F1 Grand Prix, GP China, Shanghai International Ciruitcn

The Lotus Renault F1 Team is full of confidence after two podium finishes during the two first rounds of the 2011 season. Despite his eventful race in Sepang, Vitaly Petrov looks ahead to racing at the challenging Shanghai track.

Vitaly, a difficult end to a promising race in Sepang. What happened exactly? "I still don’t really know, but the car just started to understeer and I ran wider and wider on the exit of turn eight. Maybe my tyres were dirty or I picked up some rubber offline. Then there was a big jump, which ended my race."

Despite the disappointment, you delivered another strong performance across the weekend. That must give you confidence for this weekend’s race in Shanghai… "Yes, I think we can have another good weekend. I feel very happy with the balance of the car at the moment. It’s easy to drive and I believe we will be competitive. Of course, there is still a lot of work to do and we must keep improving if we want to fight with the big teams."

Do you enjoy the challenge of racing in Shanghai? "It’s not my favourite track, but I obviously have some good memories because I scored my first points there last year. As we saw in Malaysia, you really don’t know what to expect from the tyres and you also have to remember that the DRS will probably have a big impact there, as it did in Sepang."

Source LRGP