Kovalainen: Hamilton doesn't need my help

The Finn, who scored his maiden win in Budapest three weeks ago, believes that while Hamilton is capable of taking the driver's title without assistance from his McLaren teammate, Raikkonen's job is score the maximum points he can and place as high as possible in the driver's standings.

"The desire to win more grands prix is 100%," Kovalainen said in Valencia. "And to help Lewis? All I can say is that I don't think he needs any help to be honest.

"I think he can be strong enough to win races for himself - certainly I am not planning to help him. If I have the chance to win I will go for it. I am still trying to improve my position in the championship, and that is also the message from the team. I don't need to help anyone.

"The bottom line is that he doesn't need any help, he is strong enough to do it for himself."

Asked if he felt that with his first win behind him, the monkey was off his back, Kovalainen replied: "I didn't feel that I had a monkey on my back at any point. I didn't get stressed about it.

"It was going to happen and it was just a matter of time in my opinion," he added. "In that way, I don't feel that it has made a big difference in terms of feeling easier - it is just the same."

Kovalainen added that he felt as if he had become a better driver during his season at McLaren and warned his rivals that he is still improving with every grand prix start he makes.

"I certainly feel stronger in every area," he said. "I feel I am driving better and I am feeling easier in the car. I am working well with the engineers.

"The whole package has come on a long way and I need to carry on this trend. And eventually it will be good.

"I think I am learning all the time. I am expecting to improve the results from now on. Hopefully we don't get any set backs like we had earlier this year. Hopefully we can get a good trend now - and hopefully we can maximise the points each weekend without any incidents. That would be good."