By Editor on Saturday, September 22, 2012

Vitaly Petrov thanked his mechanics for fixing his car in time for qualifying.

The Caterham racer hit the wall in the closing stages of third practice, leaving the team with work to do in a short spell.

“I’m really happy with how quali went today. It’s my Father’s birthday and the performance is my present for him”, said the Russian, who beat team mate Heikki Kovalainen.

“He told me this morning “don’t push too hard” and then I went and crashed the car in P3! The boys did a fantastic job in the garage to repair the car and it was actually all ready 15 minutes before Q1, so thank you very much to them for putting in such a great effort.”

Kovalainen was more downbeat after a tough day.

“Honestly it’s been a tough weekend for me so far and today’s performance wasn’t really any better. I’ve been struggling to find a decent balance in every session and that definitely affected me today. Despite that this is the type of race where anything can happen so I hope we can have a better Sunday and leave here on a positive note”

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