Unlike most top drivers, Petrov did not begin in karting; there was very little motorsport infrastructure where he lived. He began competing in motorsport in 1998 with rally sprints and ice races. He entered the Russian Lada Cup in 2001, gaining Oksana Kosachenko as his manager, and remained in the series for 2002, winning every round to amass the maximum points total of 500.
In 2003, Petrov moved to Formula Renault championships. His main campaign was in the Italian Formula Renault Championship for Euronova Racing, finishing 19th overall. He also competed in several rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and the Formula Renault 2.0 UK series, finishing fourth in the British Formula Renault Winter Series with one win. He also made his debut in Euro Formula 3000 at Cagliari.
In 2004, Petrov contested the inaugural Russian Lada Revolution Championship, starting every race from pole position but finishing as runner-up. He also made selected appearances in Formula Renault and Euro F3000. In 2005 he won both the Lada Revolution Championship with ten wins and the Russian Formula 1600 series with five wins.
In 2006, Petrov raced in Euroseries 3000 with Euronova Racing, finishing third in the standings with nine podiums in eighteen races and four wins at the Hungaroring, Mugello Circuit, Silverstone Circuit and Circuit de Catalunya. He also took pole position at the Brno round of the 2006 F3000 International Masters. He made his GP2 Series debut mid-season for David Price Racing, replacing French driver Olivier Pla after Pla lost sponsorship from Direxiv.
In 2007, Petrov moved to Campos Grand Prix in GP2, where he joined Giorgio Pantano. He scored five points-scoring positions from 21 races and took his first GP2 victory at Valencia, finishing 13th in the standings. He also competed in several Le Mans Series races during the year, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Courage Compétition LMP2 car; the car completed 198 laps before retiring, classified 38th.
Petrov finished third in the 2008 GP2 Asia Series for Campos — behind champion Romain Grosjean and Sébastien Buemi — with one win at Sepang International Circuit. In the main GP2 Series he finished seventh with a win at the Valencia Street Circuit. He finished fifth in the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series for Campos with a win in the Sepang sprint race.
For 2009, Petrov remained with the team now rebranded as Barwa Addax, finishing as runner-up to Nico Hülkenberg in the championship with two wins at Istanbul Park and Valencia Street Circuit.
Petrov was linked with Sauber, Renault F1 and Campos for 2010. He was announced as a Renault driver on 31 January 2010, becoming the first Russian driver in the Formula One World Championship on a one-year deal with an option for two more. He noted he had no major Russian sponsors — only his father and some family friends. His teammate was Robert Kubica, driving the new Renault R30.
His debut in Bahrain ended prematurely when the team found his right-front suspension strut damaged — suspected from hitting a kerb while chasing Rubens Barrichello for tenth. His first race finish came at the Chinese Grand Prix, where he scored his first F1 points in seventh place, also overtaking Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber in heavy rain. At the Turkish Grand Prix, a collision with Fernando Alonso in the closing laps caused a puncture and a forced pit stop; returning to the track, he set the fastest lap of the race, finishing fifteenth. In Hungary he qualified seventh — ahead of Kubica — and finished fifth. At the Belgian Grand Prix he started 23rd after a first-session qualifying crash, recovered 14 places in changeable conditions to finish ninth.
Petrov retired on the first lap of the Japanese Grand Prix after colliding with Nico Hülkenberg and crashed out of seventh at the Korean Grand Prix. He qualified tenth for the Abu Dhabi season finale, ahead of Kubica eleventh. In the race, an early safety car pit stop moved Petrov up the order; Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber emerged behind him and could not pass, blocking their title challenges and enabling Sebastian Vettel to win the championship.
On 22 December 2010, Petrov was retained by Renault on a two-year deal. For the season the team was rebranded Lotus Renault GP following a sponsorship deal with Lotus Cars. Robert Kubica suffered serious injuries in a rallying accident; Nick Heidfeld joined for the start of the season.
At the opening round in Australia, Petrov qualified sixth — a career best — and finished third, securing his only Formula One podium behind race-winner Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. In Malaysia he ran in the points until running wide and rejoining; hitting a bump from a drainage gully launched his car, breaking the steering column on landing. At the Chinese Grand Prix a technical problem in Q2 prevented him from competing in Q3, leaving him to start tenth; he made good strategy calls to finish ninth. Eighth in Turkey added further points before an eleventh in Spain.
In Monaco, Petrov was taken to hospital after a crash from sixth place involving Adrian Sutil, Lewis Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari; the crash halted the race for 20 minutes. He was released the same day and returned for a fifth at the Canadian Grand Prix. He qualified seventh at Monza before a first-lap collision involving Nico Rosberg and the HRT of Vitantonio Liuzzi eliminated all three cars. At the Korean Grand Prix, Petrov retired after crashing into Michael Schumacher on lap 16 — the third contact between the pair in 2011 — triggering a safety car. He received a five-place grid penalty for the incident at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix, starting sixteenth and finishing eleventh, just ahead of teammate Bruno Senna.
After finishing thirteenth in Abu Dhabi, Petrov gave an interview on Russian television criticising the team for lack of development, strategy errors, and driver criticism; he subsequently apologised by email to all Renault staff. Petrov ended the season tenth in Brazil, but Adrian Sutil's sixth place in that race moved Sutil ahead of Petrov for ninth in the final championship standings. In December 2011, Romain Grosjean was announced as Kimi Räikkönen's partner for 2012, leaving Petrov without a drive.
On 17 February 2012, Petrov was announced as a driver for the Caterham F1 Team, replacing Italian Jarno Trulli and partnering Heikki Kovalainen. At the Australian Grand Prix he qualified 20th and was running 15th before a steering problem forced retirement on lap 36. In Malaysia he finished 16th, ahead of Kovalainen. It became clear Caterham lacked midfield pace but was faster than Marussia and HRT.
In China, Petrov qualified 20th and finished 18th, again ahead of Kovalainen. At Bahrain he qualified more than a second faster than the nearest Marussia, cementing Caterham as fastest of the new teams for the third consecutive year; he finished 16th, equalling his best result. At the European Grand Prix at Valencia he ran as high as tenth — a position that would have given Caterham their first Formula One point — before a collision with Daniel Ricciardo left him thirteenth.
After initially being outpaced by Kovalainen, Petrov began to turn the tables mid-season, finishing ahead of the Finn in four of the last five races. In the season finale in Brazil, Petrov finished eleventh — a season's best — with a crucial pass on Marussia's Charles Pic in the closing stages, enabling Caterham to move back ahead of Marussia for tenth in the Constructors' Championship, a position worth significantly more prize money. Petrov was not retained for 2013; both he and Kovalainen were replaced by Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde.
Petrov signed with Mercedes to drive in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. He finished last in the Drivers' Championship in a scoreless season and left the series after one year.
From 2007, Petrov resided in Valencia, Spain while competing. He voiced a character based on himself in the Russian release of the 2011 Pixar film Cars 2. His brother Sergei is a music composer who graduated from Vienna's Conservatory. Petrov's father Aleksandr was an influential businessman and municipal deputy in Vyborg before being assassinated in 2020; the circumstances required Petrov to stand down from his role as a temporary steward at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix.
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