Kovalainen not ruling out strong Monaco

The reigning world champions are continuing work on getting to the bottom of why their current car has failed to deliver pace-setting form so far this year.

And although they have still not got to the bottom of the issue, Kovalainen believes that the unpredictable nature of the Monaco Grand Prix means his team are ready to grab any opportunities that come their way.

"I think the other teams will have very similar pace compared to the previous races," said Kovalainen at the circuit on Wednesday afternoon. "I think the gap will still be big to the front-runners.

"But at Monaco anything can happen. It is such an unusual and unpredictable place that we certainly can't rule out the best result of the season at this point of the weekend. We are certainly hoping for a good result."

Kovalainen believes that Renault are edging closer a final answer about the issues with their R27, but thinks that the progress they have made since the last race will not yet allow them to close the gap on the cars ahead of them.

"The car was a little bit better," he said about last week's Paul Ricard test. "We are working on the mains areas, and we are still trying to identify the problem. It did feel a bit better but the gap is similar to what it was in Barcelona I believe."

With rain not being ruled out for this weekend in Monaco, the chances of a more unpredictable weekend than normal have increased - although Kovalainen believes such weather factors will not boost his team's chances of a shock result.

"I think it is going to be similar whether it is dry or whether it is wet. I think all the drivers are such good drivers that they can drive in the wet very well, and obviously the possibility for a mistake increases quite a lot.

"For me, rain or dry it doesn't matter. We are ready to race in both conditions and whether we are more competitive we don't know, we will see.

"I enjoy driving in the wet. I have just done one wet test day in Barcelona in proper wet conditions and it was good fun. I really enjoyed it."