Caterham’s team principal fully believes his outfit fully deserved tenth place in the Constructors’ Championship after a season long battle with Marussia.
The team had originally lost tenth in the WCC following Timo Glock’s 12th place finish at the Singapore Grand Prix. It looked unlikely that they would claim the position back, but Vitaly Petrov managed to go one better in Brazil – thanks to a chaotic race – which saw the Russian finish in 11th.
That was enough to hand tenth back, meaning the team will take home an additional £10 million in prize money.
Cyril Abiteboul said the team was deserving of the place because they’ve “been better than their nearest rivals” throughout 2012.
“On behalf of the whole team I want to say how proud we are of the job we’ve done today,” said the newly appointed team principal. “It’s been a tough year, one where we have not performed at the level we want to, but today we have very good reason to celebrate.
“On balance, we deserved to regain tenth place. Our results over the whole season were better than our nearest rivals and when it mattered we were able to seize the opportunity that came our way. That is the mark of a good team and it means we head into the winter break and next year in a positive frame of mind.”
Petrov, who overcame Charles Pic to take 12th before being promoted to 11th thanks to Paul di Resta’s retirement, described the race as one of his hardest.
“What an incredible race,” he said afterwards. “On track it was one of the hardest races I’ve ever been in, but also one of the best. I’m so pleased for the whole team and I want to thank every single one of them for doing such a fantastic job in the conditions today.
“Seeing what regaining tenth place in the championship meant to everyone when I got back to the garage was really special and I think we deserve it after all the hard work we’ve put in throughout the whole year.”
