Q & A with Heikki Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen: The biggest problem is overall grip and its mostly high speed. We're lacking a bit of balance in the high speed stuff - we're a bit limited with front grip and it's on the knife edge in high speed. If you go in a bit too fast you can lose a lot of time and it's a bit inconsistent - that's our biggest problem. But we need to improve every area including the slower corners, we need a bit more grip.

Q. Is the main problem a lack of aero grip?

HK: Primarily grip. Lack of downforce is the biggest problem but we keep working on it - we still don't quite understand it. I'm not sure if it's all about downforce - it's everything else as well. We still don't understand 100 per cent where we are lacking so we can't make big steps here.

Q. Did you find any improvements in the Sepang test?

HK: The balance today felt pretty much how it was in the test - as good as it's been at any time on this track. But I didn't put all the sectors together and it's inconsistent in the high speed so it's difficult to get it right all the time. Looking back now, all my sectors together would have been just in top 10 but it doesn't make much difference for the race as we can decide the strategy. Overall, it's the area where we are at the moment.

Q. Do you have a better understanding of the tyres?

HK: They're working better on our car now - but it seems like all the other teams made some steps too - so it's difficult to say whether we've moved forward much. But we understand them better and I think they work a little bit better as well too - tyre wear is better. We've made some progress.

Q. Does the team know how to address the problems?

HK: There's no magic about it. There's no big plan on the table to change something radically. We first need to understand first exactly why we are lacking downforce and speed - we've been winning championships for the last couple of years, now with these tyres they're clearly not working. The first step is to do that and understand exactly the problems and put things together to improve. And at the same time put things together to develop the car as planned through the season.

That's the best way - if we start designing something else, something completely different, without knowing exactly why we're doing it it's not good either. It's better to try and understand the problem - the team is working on it, believe me!

Q. Are you the real Heikki this weekend?

HK: Almost. I think I got almost everything out of the car today. Still not completely happy - I didn't put all the sectors together properly today. There's some room for improvement but it's better today than in Melbourne.

Q. How important is it to be in front of Fisichella?

HK: It's nice to be in front of him but honestly we'd prefer to be higher up the grid even if I was behind him. It's not something I'm personally targeting - I want to be higher up on the grid and that's what we're working on.

Q. Will there be any changes for Bahrain?

HK: There will be some small modifications but no big steps in the short term. We need to understand first exactly why we're not performing before we can make a big change.

Q. Are you surprised to team is not quick?

HK: It's a surprise for us. Before Melbourne, we thought we'd be the fourth quickest team but now in qualifying trim it appears that it isn't the case. But the main thing is to keep our heads up and not get down and give up.

We're not doing that - the factory is working harder than ever in both night and day shifts to understand the problem and keep improving and there's no doubt that we'll come back and be stronger and start winning races at some point.