Pitstop Drama Costs Kovalainen

Kovalainen, starting from pole position, led in the early stages of the Monte Carlo race until he made his compulsory pitstop and the mechanics were unable to remove the left front wheel from his car.

With teams having to change two tyres, his mechanics decided to change the front right instead and send the Finn out with the original front left tyre.

Although he managed to continue in the race, Kovalainen lost nearly a minute and all his chances of victory.

The Finn managed to climb back into the points, going on to finish in fifth place, which, added to the points from pole position and fastest lap, allowed him to keep the championship lead by two points from Gianmaria Bruni.

"The start was OK and I pulled away quite easily at the beginning," explained Kovalainen. "There were a few cars I was trying to get past, and I lost quite a bit of time when I was lapping them. That allowed the others to catch me up, but then I pulled away again.

"Then it all went wrong in the pitstop. It's really frustrating to see a Monaco victory going away. I did what I would have done without the problem - I went out there and put my foot down again and tried to push really hard. I touched the wall a couple of times at the exit of Turn One with the front tyre, but the car was very well balanced all the way through.

"I got eight points, which is better than nothing, and hopefully it hasn't done too much damage for the championship. But this was one I really wanted to win and was really concentrating on. But what can we do? Next time we just have to try again."