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Trulli walked away from 'disappointing' Caterham

ESPN Staff
February 11, 2013 « Narain Karthikeyan linked with Force India seat | Rory Byrne back helping Ferrari »
Jarno Trulli before his final race for Caterham in 2011 © Getty Images
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The struggle some teams at the back of the F1 field face to make ends meet was highlighted by comments from Jarno Trulli that he walked away from his contract with Caterham to help it survive.

Trulli was replaced by Vitaly Petrov, who brought with him considerable sponsorship, for the 2012 season but he told Crash.net that his contract meant he could have blocked the move but decided against it in the interests of the team.

"I realised that we [Caterham] were only going backwards instead of forwards and that the team had no chance for the future," he told the website. "So given that the team was not paying me, I wasn't so disappointed when they told me I wasn't driving because I'd already tested the car, and it was no different.

"You know, me driving there would not have changed much [at Caterham], or my life, or my career. What people didn't realise is that I chose not to drive, even though I had a contract in place. I gave the team a change to survive by getting in a pay-driver."

Last month Timo Glock left Marussia by mutual consent despite having a contract through until the end of 2014, with team principal John Booth admitting that the move was driven by "tough economic conditions". He was replaced by Luiz Razia who brought with him backing from a Brazilian bank.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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