McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen: We do not understand our car

First practice session in Melbourne does not promise much for McLaren drivers

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It does not look like the Finnish McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen's Formula One season is going to start the way he would have hoped. His vehicle is currently decidedly lacking in the form and speed to be able to fight for the top placings.
     
In the Melbourne pits Kovalainen talks exceptionally candidly about the car’s problems. He says that already at a fairly early stage it became clear to everybody that the design of the car was wide of the mark.
      “We drove the first tests with last year’s rear wing. We imagined that the new wing would work similarly, but this was not the case. It came as a surprise. The car lacked grip”, Kovalainen explains.
      Kovalainen admits that the car is still a mystery to the whole team.
     
”We still do not understand it, and we do not know from where we should start improving it”, Kovalainen says.
      Still, McLaren kept producing new parts as if from a conveyor belt.
      “We produced nearly ten updates, larger and smaller”, Kovalainen recalls.
      “Most of them have been included in this race car. And certainly the car improved a fair bit between the first and the last tests.”
      According to Kovalainen, one of the problems is that towards the end of last season the team concentrated on securing Lewis Hamilton’s world championship, and McLaren are therefore a couple of months behind of the rest of the field in developing this year’s car.
     
Kovalainen admits that he is surprised that of all the teams McLaren should make this sort of mistake. After all, the team’s simulation resources are the best in the business.
      “But now the team’s engineers and designers can’t wait to show what they can do. So, maybe this was a good wake-up call after the championship year.”
      Though the Finn believes that McLaren will be able to come up with a competitive car during the course of the season, he cannot exclude the possibility that this might prove a sabbatical year of a sort for the team.
      “Then we would just have to examine the concept and identify where we went wrong. But it is too early to worry about something like that.”
     
The car issues do not have an effect on Kovalainen’s own motivation.
      “I just have to work twice as hard”, he says.
      Kovalainen cannot start predicting McLaren’s chances in Saturday’s qualifying sessions.
      “There is a tight bunch of teams half way in the middle. We do not expect to grab pole position, even though that is what we always aim for. This time our expectations are slightly more pessimistic.”
      According to Kovalainen, McLaren has not been hiding its car’s potential in the test results, which have been less than inspring.
      “We are not faking it. The tests speak their clear language of lack of speed. Plain and simple.”
     
Kovalainen predicts that Brawn GP will be the one to beat in Melbourne.
      “Based on the tests they are clearly ahead of the rest of the field. When they have Ross Brawn at the helm, they have a complete package that has taken a year and a half to take shape. With this in mind they are the biggest favourite.”
     
Friday's first practice sessions tended to back up the theory, although the fastest driver came from the Williams team. Nico Rosberg was twice fastest around the circuit, and his teammate Kazuki Nakajima took 2nd and 7th spots.
      The Brawns and Toyotas, both of which - like Williams - have used a controversial rear diffuser that is said to make the cars half a second faster per lap, were also well-placed.
      Kovalainen managed to be 5th-fastest in the first session, but both he and last year's drivers' champion Lewis Hamilton were down at the back of the field second time out.
      Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari was 3rd-fastest in the first session, and in the middle of the pack (11th) on the second stint.
     
Qualifying is on Saturday, and the race is on Sunday, starting at 09:00 Finnish time.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Kovalainen enters upcoming F1 season 4.5 kg. heavier (13.3.2009)
  Kovalainen wants to challenge Hamilton (20.1.2009)
  Kovalainen scores career first F1 victory in Budapest (4.8.2008)

See also:
  Formula One: Slimmed and trimmed Kimi Räikkönen in best shape of his life (25.3.2009)

Links:
  Heikki Kovalainen (Wikipedia)
  Ross Brawn (Wikipedia)
  Vodafone McLaren Mercedes site
  Heikki Kovalainen on the Formula One site

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