Kovalainen delighted to keep momentum

The Finn, who had scored his best F1 result in Canada with a fourth place last weekend, completed another solid race at Indianapolis, coming home in fifth position to move just one point behind teammate Giancarlo Fisichella in the standings.

The Renault driver even had the opportunity to lead the race for a moment, before making his first pitstop.

"This was another strong result for me, and I am starting to get some good momentum now," said Kovalainen. "I had a good start, and when the other cars went to the inside, I braked late on the outside line and managed to overtake Raikkonen.

"I kept him behind until the first stop, and when he pitted, along with Heidfeld, I tried to really put the hammer down and push home the advantage.

"I didn't even realise I was leading the race, until I came into the pits. Unfortunately, though, the tyre performance just wasn't there any more - and I lost out to Heidfeld and Raikkonen coming out of the pits. I tried to pass Nick on the way into turn 4, but couldn't make it stick, and then the tyres started graining because I was sliding around in the slipstream.

"But I kept pushing him and when he retired, it was just a case of pushing the car and keeping the lap-times consistent. The balance felt really good on both types of tyre today, and it was nice to see that we can fight BMW on pure pace in race conditions.

"Ferrari and McLaren are still a step ahead, but we are moving in the right direction with the car. If we keep pushing like this, we will keep on making progress back towards the front."

Fisichella's race was ruined on lap two, when the Italian lost control of his car and went off track.

Fisichella returned to the race at the bottom of the field and recovered well, but could only finish in ninth position, outside the point-scoring places.

"I am just really sorry about the result today," he said. "I lost the rear end going into turn 4 on lap 2, and that compromised my whole race. We had planned to do a one-stop strategy, and even with the heavy fuel load I was able to pass guys quite easily on my way back through the field.

"The pace was very strong today, and I even managed to overtake a few cars off-line on the outside of turn 6. I had to be aggressive and I was, but we still ended up just outside the points. Without the spin, I could definitely have got P6 I think, so it's a missed opportunity.

"The results in these two races haven't been good, but the pace of the car has, and that is encouraging as we go back to Europe. We are heading in the right direction, and there are two important races for the team coming up now. I am confident we can race with BMW, and start closing the gap in the championship."