Kovalainen Praises Pitstop Strategy
Championship leader Heikki Kovalainen praised his Arden team for giving him a strategy that resulted in a third podium finish in a row in race one at Barcelona
Kovalainen started in eleventh on the grid after a bafflingly slow run during qualifying, and he and his team felt that the only way to move substantially through the grid was to make a risky pitstop strategy.
The team brought him in on the second lap of the race to pull him out of traffic and put him onto a clear track. The move paid off handsomely.
"We decided the strategy last night," Kovalainen said, "and that the only thing we could do to have a chance to win.
"It had some risks but we had to go for it - I lost a bit of time behind some traffic, and I just pushed and pushed and didn't make a mistake, and I think it worked out pretty good."
The potential downside was large Kovalainen had to run effectively the entire race on one set of tyres which all those around him could change for fresh rubber when they wanted, but he felt that the Bridgestone tyres were up to the task.
"I lost a little bit of grip towards the end, but it was not so much. Actually, my teammate's tyres are in worse shape than mine right now!"
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