Vitaly Petrov has hit back at speculation that he may lose his race seat at the Renault team in 2012, as team principal Eric Boullier looks to give Bruno Senna and/or Romain Grosjean a full-time seat.
The Russian, who signed a two-year deal to stay with Renault at the beginning of 2011, is adamant he is safe.
“My contract is safe for next year,” he said in Singapore. “I think everything’s fine, it’s just bullsh*t [reported] in the newspapers.
“As I said at the beginning of the season, we signed for two years and I don’t see the reason I need to be worried.”
The rumours were sparked when Boullier was quoted as saying: “You have contracts, but there are some exit clauses for every party.”
Petrov though says this talk is normal, and whilst such clauses do exist, he doesn’t believe Boullier meant anything by it.
“I think it’s everywhere in the world that a contract can be finished not just because of a bad season or I did less points,” he added.
“The contract can finish by another thing like money or things like this. So this is why he said it. But if you ask him a different question maybe he can answer you differently also.”
