de Big One » Sam 17 Mar 2007 12:44
Q & A with Heikki Kovalainen
By Jonathan Noble Saturday, March 17th 2007, 11:29 GMT
Amid all the excitement surrounding Lewis Hamilton's first weekend, it has been almost forgotten that there is another rookie trying hard to make an impression at a front-running team.
But while everything has seemed to go right for Hamilton, it has all gone wrong for Heikki Kovalainen. Fuel pressure problems limited his running in practice and left him without much mileage heading into final qualifying.
Admitting he lacked confidence in the car, the Finn could manage no better than 13th.
But, as autosport.com found out afterwards, Kovalainen seemed far from depressed when he spoke to the media - and was determined to do much better in tomorrow's race.
Q. What do you feel after today?
Heikki Kovalainen: It was a big disappointment, but I didn't manage to get everything out of the car and the tyres. Honestly the car felt good and there was a lot of potential but I didn't manage to make a good lap time this time and this is the result.
Q. What was the problem?
HK: I didn't push enough and didn't manage to get a quick, clean lap in. Like I said before, the car was very good. There was nothing wrong with the car but unfortunately the lap was not good enough.
Q. So are you feeling confident for the race?
HK: Yes, absolutely. I am not giving up. This is just one half of the game that didn't go well, but I am very excited about the race and am going to push very hard. The only way is to go forwards.
Q. It is only the first race, but were you expecting more?
HK: Of course I am disappointed with my performance today. I think the car felt much better than where I am now, but I think the problems over the weekend, limited laps for me, meant I didn't manage to push enough on the new tyres to get a time good enough for Q3. This is the result and unfortunately we cannot change it. Tomorrow we just try harder.
Q. What do you make of your opponents?
HK: I think it is pretty much as we predicted before we came here. Ferrari, McLaren, BMW and us. The competitiveness is quite okay, although obviously my performance today isn't great. Fisichella's performance is promising but we try to catch the other people.
Q. You are the reigning world champions. Do you think a podium is possible?
HK: It is difficult to say where we are going to end up. One thing is for sure, I will fight until the last moment and try and move up as much as possible.
Q. How has the weekend been in terms of expectations and getting used to the format?
HK: I think that has been pretty much as expected, but the result today was not what I expected. We have been running quite a limited amount of laps this weekend with my car. We have had some various problems, but in any case my performance was not good enough today and we need to improve.
Q. Was there a problem with the car, the set-up?
HK: No. I think it was my personal problem. I think my car had a lot more potential like Giancarlo showed. I didn't just manage to get a quick, clean lap at any time with new tyres and before this point of the weekend I had not been able to run new tyres because of the problems. So I just didn't find the right braking zones or the right amount of attack. The result is too slow.
Q. Did the washout in first practice hurt you?
HK: That was the same for everybody. I don't think that made any difference. The problem then was that we had a problem with the fuel system. I stopped on the track in the second session very early.
Then this morning there was a bit of rain at the beginning and again this morning we had a fuel problem, so I missed another half an hour. We just managed to do another run at the end of the session. Maybe with a few more laps I would have had a few more tenths in the pocket to go to Q3, and start fighting again. But this time I didn't get enough out of the package and it is what it is.
Q. When these problems occur does it hurt you mentally?
HK: No, I don't think so. Clearly it is a disappointment but we cannot change it any more. The positive side is that there is nothing we can complain about with the car.
Q. And what about beforehand, when the fuel problems came up?
HK: No. It cannot be an excuse. It is easy to make it an excuse, but if you are good enough then you should be able to find it quickly. Today I wasn't good enough. In the future if I have the same problem again I must be able to learn the track and in qualifying I must be able to find the limit quicker.
Q. The car seems to have a lot of understeer. Do you feel it?
HK: I think I have a bit of both understeer and oversteer, and Giancarlo the same. In general I think the balance was not so bad, it was just the matter of getting everything out of it. And clearly I didn't get everything out of it today.
Q. Where do you see yourself and Giancarlo compared to the front-runners?
HK: Well, we are not obviously where we want to be. We are not as quick as Ferraris and not as quick as McLarens. Probably even BMWs. That seems to be the fact now. In any case I think we are close enough to put up a fight, at least with a few of them, and that is what we will try and do before.
Q. What do they have that Renault are lacking?
HK: If we knew that, we would not be behind them. Honestly we don't know. The balance of the car is not bad, there is no particular problem. It is probably every area. We need to improve the downforce, have a little bit more grip in the car, get a bit more stability, and maybe have a bit more power. I think it comes from everywhere - braking, throughout the corner and exit.
Q. Felipe Massa has showed that pace isn't everything, you need reliability. Do you have a car that will take 58-laps?
HK: When we arrived here, we thought we had a reliable car. But before qualifying I managed to do 30 laps in three sessions, so you never know. We should have a reliable car from now on and we hope to finish the race. You never know. I have experienced a lot of problems with my car this weekend. We hope they are all sorted now to give us a little bit of confidence tomorrow to finish the race.
Q. Did you feel much pressure coming into the weekend?
HK: No, I didn't feel much tension. I just felt more heat because of the sun! That is the only thing I felt. Honestly the pressure was not a problem for me. Even now I don't feel too much pressure about anything. It is the normal pressure you always have through the weekend. And, okay today was not a fantastic result but there is no point to put your head down and be sad about it.
).
Faudra pas que j'oublie de me lever demain matin... J'ai loupé le live des qualifs cette nuit : jme suis endormi à 3h45... La Haine... 
Et pour Kova c'étaient ses premières qualifs! Faut attendre un peu qu'il s'habitue au circuit mais je pense qu'en course il va continuer à gagner en rapidité 
Et franchement je ne vois ni Fisico ni Kova se faire battre par Heidfeld ou Kubica 
