Kovalainen: McLaren ready to move on

The Finn was announced as Lewis Hamilton's teammate on Friday and he made his first public appearance as a McLaren driver at a Race of Champions press conference at Wembley on Saturday.

Dressed in plain silver-white overalls rather than his more usual Renault colours, Kovalainen made it clear that McLaren's spy scandal, and especially their apology to the FIA this week for not realising how deep their involvement in the matter was, had not left him with any qualms for 2008.

"Before I signed the contract, I asked about the issue and all I know is that it is not going to affect our performance next year," said Kovalainen, who is chasing a second overall victory in the RoC event. "That was enough for me.

"I haven't been involved in that case and I don't know the details, so it is quite difficult to comment on it. But for me, and for McLaren as well, the intention is to make everything clear as soon as possible. We want to leave everything behind, make sure everyone is happy about the situation and move on.

"I think we can do it and I think the team is able to leave it behind. For the whole sport, it is better if we can move on. Of course it is a serious matter, and of course we have people dealing with it in FIA and in my team, so I think we will be able to sort the problem out and move on."

Kovalainen said the target for him in 2008 was to make a step forward in his own performance and results, having scored just a single podium finish with Renault in 2007.

"It has taken a bit of time to finally arrive at this deal, but of course I am very happy to join McLaren now," he said. "It is a new chapter in my career and I will try and do everything to be more successful and have a better year than I had this year.

"But at the moment it is still early days. I need to try and get to know the team, know the people and try and prepare for my first race. But of course I am very happy."

Looking ahead to more immediate ambitions, Kovalainen said his target this weekend was to win both the RoC Nations Cup for Finland and also the individual event.

"We won the Nations Cup last year, then I won the 2004 individual event. I would like to win them both this year because that would be a good end to a good week."