Whitmarsh: ''Kovalainen will win a race this year''

The five-place starting grid penalty for the two McLaren drivers in a certain sense overshadowed the excellent qualifying performance shown by Heikki Kovalainen, who managed to do better than his teammate Lewis Hamilton in that which is just his second outing at the wheel of McLaren. In an interview granted to Motorsport Magazin adrivo.com, McLaren general director Martin Whitmarsh had words of praise for the Finn: "He joined our team with all the pressure that comes with it. And standing alongside a driver strong and comfortable with the team's working method like Lewis is an excellent result."

According to Whitmarsh, in his nine weeks at McLaren, Kovalainen has made fantastic progress: "His self-confidence has grown enormously. His performance has improved and we are just at the beginning of a long relationship." Whitmarsh expects even better things from the Finn in the coming years: "I am sure that he will win a race this year and that this will give a further boost to his self-confidence and his performances. I am convinced that he will become stronger and stronger."

Fabrizio Corgnati