Hakkinen: Kovalainen will flourish

Hakkinen, who drove for McLaren-Mercedes for eight and a half years before quitting the sport at the end of 2001, told reporters at a Johnnie Walker promotional event that while Kovalainen appeared to have the speed to be a regular winner, only a race victory would give him the confidence to show it regularly.

"Heikki has positively surprised me with his performance," said Hakkinen. "He has done very good work. Does he have that extra tenth or two? It looks like he can do it - but sometimes I wonder in my mind if he can do it when he wants to do it, or does it sometimes come out without him acknowledging it?

"But I think he has had some bad experiences like the last race and Barcelona - and all this season there have been technical issues and mistakes that have not allowed him to show his real potential.

"I see a situation where as soon as he starts getting a couple of victories in his pocket, I am sure that will raise his confidence and he will be able to show the extra speed and talent that you need to be a continuous winner in grands prix."

Hakkinen added that he could empathise with the pressure faced by Kovalainen's teammate Lewis Hamilton this year, after a season alongside the more experienced Fernando Alonso.

"He is living in a very extreme situation," Hakkinen said of Hamilton. "He started his career at McLaren and his teammate was a double world champion [Fernando Alonso], and I am sure he got a lot of good information from him. Lewis learned a lot from him in terms of how to operate inside the team, and how to set the car up.

"So Lewis is in a situation where he has to be the leader of the team, he has the pressure to develop the car, make it fast, and show the results for the team to prove he can do it. The pressure is very high on him.

"Lewis does have an advantage of being in the team for one year, understanding how the team operates and Heikki is clever enough to watch what Lewis is doing all the time and to try to put himself inside the team to get the team to support him," he added.

"Is Heikki going to be one day where he is in a situation where the positions are changing on the race track and Heikki starts beating Lewis? I think both of these guys, Lewis definitely, can provide consistent talent and performance - but the pressure is part of the game. You can start making mistakes and if the other driver is ready to attack at that time, it can change the tables basically."

Hakkinen remains unconvinced that Kovalainen has yet shown his ultimate potential, and believes that too many outside circumstances have come in to play to be able to accurately measure him against Hamilton.

"Heikki has not, for me, shown the consistency of the extra speed that he can provide," he said. "A lot of what I have been reading, looking and listening, Heikki has been in a position with fuel levels to be able to be quicker than Lewis - but unfortunately he has had situations like in Melbourne, situations like in the last race for example.

"So, I don't know. But I think that both drivers do have an equal chance to show their performance and how good they are. Heikki has plenty of time as long as he keeps doing a good job. But will he beat Lewis? It is too early to say."