In Demand: Interview with Heikki Kovalainen

While the world awaits any news about Fernando Alonso's future, the fate of Heikki Kovalainen is just as intriguing. If Alonso finally opts for a return to Renault, then it will most likely be to partner Nelson Piquet Jr, a rookie that the Spaniard will be happy to have alongside him.

That in turn means team chief Flavio Briatore will have to find a new home for his Finnish driver. After an impressive season, Briatore certainly has a much better chance of placing Kovalainen elsewhere than he would Piquet, who remains something of an unknown quantity.

Wednesday's announcement from Williams saw one possible door close, but another - at McLaren - remains open. In many ways, Kovalainen is the perfect driver for the job of running alongside Lewis Hamilton, and not just because he has experience of filling Alonso's shoes. He would give Hamilton a hard time without any of the baggage that the Spaniard brought, and clearly has the mental strength and maturity to cope with anything that might come his way.

He's also a good candidate for Toyota, and it's thought that he is high on the list at Cologne, depending on what happens with the Jarno Trulli/Timo Glock/Fernando Alonso discussions.

It's easy to characterise any driver contracted to Flavio Briatore as a peg to be fitted in any hole that happens to suit the Italian wheeler dealer, but Kovalainen has firm ideas about his future.

Q: How much have you learned this year?

Kovalainen: "I think every race you learn something more. I don't think there's been a big sort of bright light that I suddenly switched on. I think it's more small details, how to work with the team, the engineers, how to go through the sessions during the weekend, how to solve problems, how to deal with different situations. It's more that, nothing dramatic happened.

"Obviously there have been some dramatic situations, but I think I managed to handle them well, and I think all the other details I've learned will help me in the future. Hopefully whenever I have a chance to fight for the championship I'll be able to do it."

Q: So what's your overall verdict on the season?

Kovalainen: "I think we can't be happy about the beginning of the season. Our car was not as competitive as it should have been, and it was very inconsistent. But also I made a few mistakes that I should not have made. Giancarlo [Fisichella] was driving better at the beginning of the season, and he scored more points.

"But then in the second half of the season we improved out car all the time. We made some good steps and our place was seventh or eighth fastest all the time, in normal conditions. Then we started to score points regularly, and I got a podium in Japan.

"I think it's been a positive season anyway. I've learned a helluva lot this year, and now whatever comes in the future, I think I can easily go through it after a season like this!"

Q: You were replacing a double world champion, and you must have thought you could win races in your first year. When did you realise it wasn't going to be that straightforward?

Kovalainen: "To be honest when we went to Melbourne we didn't know that the gap was so big to the leaders. We went there thinking we won't be in front of Ferrari and McLaren, but we will be there or thereabouts. Qualifying 13th for my first race wasn't good! And Fisi qualified sixth, and normally he's very good around there.

"It was a bit of a shock, and the next few races not being on the pace at all was definitely a bit of a disappointment for us. We realised that we didn't have the pace and we had to do a bit of work."

Q: What was the lowest point for you in the early races - was it after qualifying in Australia?

Kovalainen: "It was the first race and things did go very wrong there for me, but I felt OK. In Malaysia it looked a bit better, and again in Bahrain. Spain was the first one where the pace was actually OK, I qualified top 10, and I was fighting there with Robert [Kubica] when we had some refuelling problems.

"But then in Monaco I was really not on the pace all weekend, and never really comfortable with the car, and I didn't find good settings there, and I didn't really make up places in the race as well. It was a really disappointing weekend, and after that I had some meetings with the engineers and they told me you really need to pull your finger out, and I was not good enough.

"In Canada it started quite badly, I had the accident and engine failure and it was still going wrong there, but since the race there things turned around - I don't know why!"

Q: Getting a fourth place in Montreal must have been fantastic after the way the weekend started...

Kovalainen: "Yeah, I started to understand the set-up and how to get more out of the car and make it better for the race, and also driving a little bit smoother and less aggressive, not attacking as much as before. It took just a little bit too long for me to put it all together. It certainly is something that we need to improve for next year."

Q: Did the Canadian result give you some breathing space, though?

Kovalainen: "Maybe a little bit. I still felt a little bit lucky, and it was really a chaotic race. I had to finish obviously, but the result there was not really a reflection of the whole weekend. But then in the USA qualifying sixth and finishing fifth, I was genuinely fighting there, firstly with Kimi [Raikkonen], and then the BMWs.

"That was the first really good weekend, and I think that gave me a bit of breathing space in the team. The engineers thought, he's still the driver that we thought he would be. There were less people doubting about my ability. Of course, it's a little boost for yourself.

"There was still a lot of talk around there that I would be replaced or whatever, but I never really followed that talk too much. The team was starting to give some confidence again, so it was good."

Q: Were you happy with the second half of the season?

Kovalainen: "In Hungary I dropped out of Q3 after being second fastest in Q1, I didn't get it right in Q2, but I think we figured out the problems there, why I suddenly lost pace. But I felt the race was very strong there, I finished eighth. I think it was one of the best races this year. I started 12th and I overtook three cars in the pits. It was a good race, a good boost for me.

"Turkey was another strong race, I led there for a while and finished P6 there. I was catching Lewis at the end when he had the tyre problem. In Italy and Belgium the strategy didn't work out in both races for me, we could have done better there I think."

Q: But Pat Symonds was full of praise for your drive at Spa, where you beat Kubica

Kovalainen: "For the strategy that we had my drive was OK, I really couldn't have done better there. I was holding off Robert for the last 10 laps, and he was clearly quicker than me. To keep him behind, I think it was a hard-earned point! And then there was Japan, obviously."

Q: That must have been the highlight of your season!

Kovalainen: "We were looking relatively competitive on Friday, we were quite happy with our pace, and I think we would have been in our normal seventh and eighth, or maybe sixth, close to BMW and ahead of the rest. Then in the damp qualifying we were just not fast enough. Giancarlo is normally very good in the rain straight away, he only managed 11th and I was a couple of tenths slower.

"The feeling was that maybe we chose the wrong downforce level there, because we were expecting it to be dry on Sunday, and we suffered in qualifying a little bit. We were hoping to have a better Sunday, but not quite as good as it turned out to be!

"We had a good strategy, we had a lot of fuel on board. Because of the conditions many people made mistakes or had some accidents or whatever, but we were there to take the place away from those guys. That's what we were trying to aim at every race. If there were any problems for Ferrari, McLaren or BMW, we had to be there."

Q: You coped with incredible pressure from Kimi at the end. Was that very satisfying?

Kovalainen: "Firstly, [Felipe] Massa was catching me, and he couldn't make a move, and then he had to go to the pits and Kimi was catching me very fast, and he tried to make a move on the last lap. But I really, really wanted to stay in second place rather than lose it on the last lap. I took some big risks there and they paid off big time, I was really on the limit with the car. In those conditions to come out ahead of him was a really good moment."

Q: What did he say to you afterwards?

Kovalainen: "He said it was a wet race! And I said yeah, it was slippery. Not much, I think he was a little disappointed not to win the race, and they had some miscommunication at the beginning of the race or whatever, so he was disappointed. He felt he should have won or beaten me at least."

Q: What is your relationship with Kimi like? You dads hang out together.

Kovalainen: "They race together in the Legends championship, and they are good mates. They watch races together. They happened to watch the Japanese GP together in a motorhome at one of the tracks where they were driving a Legends car!

"I'm always very friendly with Kimi, and he's always friendly with me. I never have any problem with him, I respect him a lot as a driver and as a person. It's always really good fun with him, and his friends are nice guys."

Q: You mentioned the rumours about Piquet coming in to replace you earlier in the season and so on. Were you really able to ignore all of that?

Kovalainen: "Yeah, I think I was able to do it quite well. Honestly, it never affected my driving. Of course, off the track sometimes I was thinking things are not going very well, and I needed some support, some people to convince me that it will come good one day.

"In F1 there's not a lot of time, and when it starts to go wrong, very easily you are out of the game. It's happened to many drivers before, and I really wanted to make sure that I stay here for a long time. And I know that I can be competitive, given the right situation, and the right package. I have to work more and make sure that the mistakes that I made don't happen again.

"I think I handled that quite well, it's something that I can be quite happy about this year. There was a lot of talk, negative talk, but it never affected my driving. The hottest moment of the season was maybe around the US GP, and it was one of the best races."

Q: You said the engineers gave you a hard time after Monaco. On the TV, we often hear them on team radio encouraging you and Giancarlo. Is that just the way the guys are at Renault, pushing the drivers along?

Kovalainen: "I think the race situations are different. Normally it's Flavio who tells the engineers, 'tell him to push, tell him to go faster!' As I said, the engineers kicked my butt, we had a meeting at the factory before Canada. They were saying to me 'in some of the races you could have done more, you could have been at the track more, you could have been with the engineers more.' Basically they were telling me to dig deeper.

"Maybe at the beginning of the year I was more saying it will be OK the next day, but it's not like that, especially with a difficult car. I think I learned too easy last year in testing, when you put new tyres on you always go fast regardless, whatever the set-up was.

"This year I really had to understand things better, and they told me that I needed to do that better, and Pat particularly was giving me advice what to do, I think he's been in these situations before with drivers.

"I must admit that it did make a difference. I've spent more time with the engineers, I've changed some of the way I work, debriefs and procedures that we do. I think that also made a difference."

Q: We know that Flavio doesn't have much patience if he's unhappy with a driver. But it's a strange situation, because you're here because of him, and he 'owns' you or whatever. It's not a normal boss/driver relationship, is it?

Kovalainen: "I guess it's a bit different, but as manager Flavio can't do much if things are not going well. If I'm not doing good races, then he's kicking my butt as well to make sure he gets the most out of me. The way Flavio works is to put pressure on people in every way."

Q: And you don't mind that?

Kovalainen: "For me, it's absolutely no problem. After Melbourne many people were saying 'he was too hard on you' - absolutely not. I'm already a grown-up man, I can take a lot of shit. If there's a reason for giving the shit, it's no problem for me.

"With Flavio it actually works well, he says exactly what he thinks. He says you screwed-up big time, you need to improve. Otherwise there's not much more he can do about it, and then the most important thing is to respond to his criticisms at the earliest time, the next day or at the next test, whatever. And then you show him OK, I fixed the problem, we're all sorted now.

"And when things go well, he's there to say well done. He's also like that. Many people don't see that, they only see as aggressive. But I think he's a very good leader for the team. As my manager and the team boss he pushes me all the time."

Q: Where are you going to be next year?

Kovalainen: "All I know is my position is very good now. I think I have several options, and many teams are interested in me, and that's the most important thing. I just have to make sure that we make the correct choice for next year or the next few years. Wherever we commit I would like to stay there for the next two or three years and try to win championships, try to win races.

"For me the most important thing is to have equal status with my teammate and be in a car that is as competitive as possible. I'm very confident that I will be racing next year, I just have to make the correct choice now."

Q: Ideally would you like to stay at Renault and build on what you achieved this year?

Kovalainen: "Obviously for me Renault is a very good option, I know the team very well, and I think potentially they are a very good team. They won the championship for the last two years, OK this year has been difficult for us, but there's no doubt that they can do better. So there's a lot of potential and obviously I would like to stay here, it would probably be the easiest option for me.

"But we need to be careful, we need to see how the situation goes, and for me to start the season with the knowledge that I am equal with the teammate and have as much chance to win the championship as my teammate is very important. Otherwise I will never win the championship, and I believe I can do it, and I want to be in a situation where I can do it."

Q: Is your feeling that if Alonso comes back to Renault, it's better for you to be somewhere else?

Kovalainen: "Not necessarily, if the team can guarantee that we are both equal, it would be perfect to have Fernando. It's difficult to say what he wants, and it's not really my business. I've never been in a position where I can decide about my teammate, and honestly, if you want to be champion, you have to be able to handle anyone, you need to try to be better than anyone else. But you need to be in the same car as the other one, you need to have the same service from the team.

"Renault have normally had equal status within the team, even in the last few years, and Fernando was able to stretch more out of it. I can understand at the end of the season if one is ahead and the other is behind, why not help the other one for the team?

"But for my future, I'm still a young driver, still at the beginning of my career, and I'm not in a position where I can afford to be a number two driver for a few years; I need to try and make my name and mark. If Fernando comes here, it's something I need to be careful about."

Q: Is F1 everything you expected it to be?

Kovalainen: "Everything has been what I expected, but it is very, very competitive. It surprised me just a little bit how much you need to push all the time. You relax for a little while, and straight away, you are at the back. It's really, really important to be 100% focused every weekend, have 100% commitment. It takes a lot from everybody, and from the driver as well, to do that every weekend. Nothing else really surprised me, I knew exactly how the other stuff works in F1."

Q: Every driver has to think that he's good enough to be world champion. After this year do you really believe that you are?

Kovalainen: "Yes, absolutely. It's convinced me more than before, that with the right package I can certainly be very competitive. Of course to win a championship you need a little bit of luck, and you need to do things very well. I'm sure I can improve, and I must improve if I want to win the championship. With a season like this one I would not have been able to win a championship, especially with the start of the season.

"So there are things I need to improve. I've learned a lot this year, and whatever happens I need to be ready for the moment whenever I have the package and the car. The next two or three years I need to work more than ever to do it. But I'm convinced that I can do it."

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments