Kovalainen welcomes cooler conditions

The Finn has struggled during the season with overworking his rear tyres and, despite making significant progress in tackling the problem in recent races, he believes the Monza weather could help him at a track where McLaren is expected to have the edge over Ferrari.

"If it's cooler here it should probably be a little advantage for me," said Kovalainen. "I'd like to think that we've moved on - even in very hot conditions the pace has been good in the last few races.

"We had a strong test here, certainly when I did two days here I felt the car was very strong and the laptimes looked competitive.

"We have some more improvements on the car and if everything goes to plan we should do fine. It will be fine for victory."

Kovalainen, who claimed his first grand prix victory in Hungary last month, also says that although he is willing to support Lewis Hamilton's title bid in certain circumstances he is still keen to add to his wins tally.

"I am just trying to do strong individual races," he said. "The championship I've not given up on yet, but it's very difficult and probably a little bit unrealistic. So I will try to win more races.

"The best I can do for the team is to try to score maximum points every time. We have no instructions. If I am in a race where, like in Hockenheim, where my pace wasn't very good and Lewis was behind me, maybe I can help him.

"But apart from that I have no instructions to help Lewis. If I have the chance to win a race myself - that's the target."