Kovalainen expected to race in Turkey

Kovalainen was knocked unconscious after he crashed at an estimated 220km/h on lap 22 of the Barcelona race when he suffered a problem with his left front tyre.

The 100-millisecond accident produced a force of 26G.

The Finn, who waved to the crowd after being extracted from his car, was airlifted to the Hospital General de Catalunya, where checks showed he had no injuries.

"His scans are completely clear. There are no physical damage to him at all and no trauma damage to his brain, he's completely clear," Dennis told reporters after the race.

"(He is) a little concussed. But not as a result of anything other than the trauma of the accident - there's no damage or bruising or bleeding. So we're quite optimistic about the next race.

"I'm not a doctor so I must qualify what I say - I spoke to our doctor at the hospital and we're quite optimistic that at this very early stage he'll be able to race because there is no damage, bruising or bleeding."

Kovalainen will stay under observation tonight and is expected to leave the hospital tomorrow.

Dennis said the team were almost completely sure the accident was triggered by a wheel failure.

"As far as we can tell, because we've now got the parts - a wheel failed," he said. "A very unusual occurrence," he added.

"It had only had 14km on it, so it was a brand new wheel so we have to analyse the components to find out. But at the moment, it's 99.9 per cent certain the wheel failed.

"It's a new wheel and under circumstances like this it will normally be something to do with our partners who make the wheel - but it would be completely inappropriate for me to make any comment until we've analysed the pieces. Obviously, when we know we'll share it with you."

Dennis admitted the team did not consider stopping Kovalainen's teammate Lewis Hamilton because they had already identified the problem.

"We had identified while Lewis was behind the safety car that it was a rapid loss of air pressure. You could see from the imaging that there was no wobble on the wheel so it wasn't a loose wheel and the wheel was still tight afterwards. We felt that it was completely safe to continue."