Petrov's manager not confident of 2013 deal

Jan.14 (GMM) Following reports he was the favourite to secure the other Caterham race seat, Vitaly Petrov's manager actually sounds far from optimistic.

German reports had suggested the Russian has found new sponsors and was on the cusp of sealing the deal to secure his place at the team for 2013.

Vitaly Petrov, Caterham with Oksana Kosachenko, Manager

Photo by: XPB Images

"So far, we haven't managed to find new sponsors," Petrov's manager Oksana Kosachenko is quoted by R-Sport.

"Where do journalists get this information from? I'm a journalist myself and I know very well how this can just pop into someone's head."

She admitted Petrov is not close to sealing the deal.

"At the moment there are a lot of unanswered questions," said Kosachenko. "There are too many nuances that need to be sorted out.

"We're at the waiting stage, which is linked to the team's restructuring. We completely depend on them and can't speed anything up."

Caterham has already signed 2012 Marussia driver Charles Pic, and at the weekend technical boss Mike Gascoyne hinted it is likely Petrov's 2012 teammate Heikki Kovalainen will be dropped.

Alongside Petrov, it was believed the sponsored drivers Bruno Senna and Giedo van der Garde were also in the running to be Frenchman Pic's 2013 teammate.