Kovalainen vindicated by Canada result

The Finn scored his best result of the season in Canada last weekend, when he finished fourth after a strong drive from the back of the grid, amid speculation that he needed to start delivering results if was going to keep his place at the team.

But Kovalainen insisted he was never worried by the stories about him, and has said he never lost belief that he could deliver the kind of performance he showed at the weekend.

"There were many other people that were sending me home already and there was a lot of talk in the press in a negative way," said Kovalainen. "But honestly I was very concentrated to give the maximum effort.

"I was always confident in my own ability. I have done races, championships, and what was happening was not going to take my confidence away. I showed (in Canada) I can cope with different pressures of F1.

"Even if people and everybody are saying whatever, it doesn't affect me at all. I can keep my concentration and do a good job for the team."

Kovalainen has suffered his fare share of bad luck this year, with an engine failure in practice in Canada his latest setback.

But he has made it clear that his run of bad luck will not deter him, and that he is as committed to the team as they are to him.

"It's a little bit frustrating, but all I can do at the moment is stay calm and keep my head up," he said. "But I keep my full confidence. Of course, for others it might be hard to believe after some difficult races and some bad results.

"But in any case, everybody in the team is keeping their head up and I feel like people still believe in me 100 per cent. And the results will come.

"But it's very important to analyse what has happened. Make sure what we learn from everything and that it doesn't happen again in Indianapolis or any other races."