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Viltaly Petrov offering €15 million for F1 drive
ESPNF1 Staff
January 22, 2010
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Vitaly Petrov will bring €15 million to any F1 team that will take him © Sutton Images
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GP2 driver Vitaly Petrov is hoping to land one of the remaining seats in Formula One this year by offering €15 million (US$21 million) for a drive.
He finished as runner-up in last year's GP2 championship to Williams driver Nico Hulkenberg and has been in talks with Renault and Campos about a drive for the upcoming season. His personal sponsorship comes from Moscow-based bank Sberbank and Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world, according to Geman newspaper Bild. His backing would equate to €800,000 (US$1.1 million) a race for the team that takes him on.
Petrov is looked after by Michael Schumacher's manager Willi Weber, who stated that pay drivers are nothing new in F1.
"Only six or seven top drivers earn real money, the rest bring it to their teams," said Weber. " And whoever starts doing it, needs to keep doing it for his entire career, unless he is an exceptional talent."
In an interview with ESPNF1 today, Renault team principal Eric Boullier said that Petrov's money was not the only reason he was considering him.
"People say we are only looking at Petrov because he is bringing a lot of money, but he is not the richest driver we are talking to," Boullier said. "We must not forget he came second in the GP2 championship in 2009. His talent alone is more than enough to secure him an F1 drive."
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