MODERATOR: What about this race, you’ve been on the pole position here, four times you finished fourth, twice from 20th and 22nd on the grid. So what are your chances here?
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN: Honestly, not so much. I’ve always felt confident even after a lot of mistakes and after bad races; I haven’t lost my confidence, and I always feel the team has been a hundred percent behind me. In that way, it was a big relief. It was good to score points, and to get five points is very important for myself, for the team and to get the championship going. Now our car is getting better. So I think that’s more important. But other than that, it doesn’t really change my life and our team’s life much at all.
MODERATOR: Tell us about the improvements in the car. Is it a lot better now?
KOVALAINEN: Yes, I think so. Already in Monaco, the car was performing a lot better there, and at the end of the race my pace, even though I was driving at the back of the queue, was pretty good. And Fisi had a strong result there and all the way in Canada throughout the weekend. The car did feel pretty good, but obviously a couple of mistakes, one on Friday and one on Saturday, they completely compromised my race, especially qualifying. We have to make sure that we get the full potential out of our car. I think we should be able to fight for top-10 positions now on a consistent basis. When we get there, then the races become a lot more easier. Then we should score points consistently.
MODERATOR: You have been quoted as saying you’ve learned some change of attitude from the weekend to last weekend. What was the main thing that you learned from last weekend?
KOVALAINEN: I don’t know if I said that or not, but obviously mistakes in the free practice, they cost me a lot of track time. When I went to qualifying, I really didn’t have 100 percent confidence, you know, how much I can attack. It was actually the first time I used the super-soft tires in qualifying because of all the problems in the practice. When you go to qualifying with that kind of a situation, it’s always going to be very difficult when everybody else is on the top of their games and you are still finding your way around the track and with the car and with the tires and everything.
So I think the main lesson from that weekend is we’ve got to do the free practice properly. We’ve got to make sure we set up the car and 100 percent ready for the qualifying, and then I think everything will be back to normal.
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