Kovalainen to stay at Renault in 2006

Highly-rated Kovalainen has been managed by the Renault Driver Development programme, but the Finn has been linked to a race seat next year with BMW. Briatore, however, has made it clear that Kovalainen is set to stay at Renault in 2006.

"He's the future of F1," Briatore told Autosprint. "We are betting a lot on him and it's absolutely not true that he'll race for Sauber [BMW] in 2006.

"Kovalainen will be our test driver and he'll do the same formation programme followed by Fernando Alonso."

World Champion Alonso made his Formula One debut with Minardi in 2001 but carried a year of testing duties for Renault in 2002 before making a return to racing in 2003.

And Kovalainen, who dominated the first part of the season in GP2 only to finish second to Nico Rosberg, will likely race in 2007 after a year of testing, according to Briatore.

The Italian said: "Is he ready to race in F1 already? At the moment I don't know, but I will have a clearer view after the many kilometers he'll do in pre-season testing.

"In 2007 he'll surely be on the grid for the Grands Prix, but I don't yet know whether it will be with Renault or another team. We'll see."