Kovalainen overcoming tyre problems

The Finn is having trouble maintaining the consistency of his rubber over stints in the races, and has been working with his McLaren team to improve the situation.

And although he does not feel that he is totally on top of the issue, he thinks big progress has been made.

"We worked over the last few months with it and we've changed the car as well - it's very difficult to change the driving style and there's no need to change driving style radically," explained Kovalainen. "It's just adapting the car, finding the sweet spot and adapting the car as well.

"We are getting closer to it and on some occasions we have been very happy with it. We need to keep working on it and that's the only way to improve it."

Kovalainen says that although there are only small differences in the driving style between himself and Hamilton, he thinks it is enough to make an impact in performance.

"It think it's the small detail of the driving and how you enter the corners and how you hit the brakes and how you go on the power. I'm sometimes cornering longer than Lewis - he turns the car in a shorter time whereas I'm trying to make the corners more round. It's harder on the tyres - it's a fact I need to work on."

He added: "It's quite tricky for myself this year. I've found a few times that they are very good and the stints are very strong, but then if I don't get the tyres exactly like I want it can ruin the whole stint and I lose a lot of time.

"Generally I haven't had a problem in qualifying but that's probably more characteristic of our car. But we are working at it. I can't talk for the other teams and drivers but certainly for myself we are getting on top of the reasons why I am harder on the tyres and we're working on it. Eventually we will get there."