Kovalainen happy to bounce back

The Renault driver bounced back from a dismal start to the weekend which included two accidents during practice and qualifying to score a strong result after driving an error-free race.

"This was such a satisfying result for me," said the Finn. "Of course, I needed some luck to score points after starting last - but you have to take advantage of your opportunities, and I think I did exactly that.

"I seemed to spend a lot of the afternoon overtaking other cars, but we had changed the set-up before qualifying to give me better straightline speed and that definitely paid off.

"The conditions were very hard, with a lot of marbles out on the track, and it was really easy to make mistakes. I didn't make any, and this is a great reward after two really hard days here in Montreal.

"All the problems I had this weekend only made me more determined to succeed, and it just goes to show that you should never, ever give up. You have to stay positive, keep looking ahead and the results will come.

"Everything fell into place for me today, and hopefully things will continue the same way next weekend in Indy."

Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella also looked set for a strong result, but the Italian was disqualified from the race after leaving the pitlane when the red light was on.

"I was having a great race, but it ended up being a bad day for me," said Fisichella. "The podium was within my reach, and it's so frustrating to miss out on a golden opportunity.

"In terms of the incident coming out of the pits, I was concentrating on Kubica who was alongside me, and so focused on beating him that I didn't see the red light.

"On the positive side, though, the car was clearly competitive today - and we were competitive with Ferrari. That's positive for next weekend, and I will be hoping for a better afternoon in Indy."