It’s up to us to make the best of it - Kovalainen

The Finnish ING Renault F1 Team driver, Heikki Kovalainen, explains why he feels that the day was not too bad despite a difficult qualifying session. Kovalainen will start tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix from 11th position.

“Of course the team is disappointed as we didn’t make it into the top 10 and it’s understandable. We reckoned we’d made a lot of progress during testing on the circuit last week, but our rivals seem to have done so too! Honestly, I think it would have been possible for me to get through the second part of qualifying; I just didn’t manage to string together the best sectors. Had I done so, it might have been enough.”

“It lacks overall grip. The problem is particularly evident at high speed. We lack grip at the front, and this prevents us from really pushing hard.”

“Yes, I think that’s where the main problem lies. This being said you know that all the parameters of an F1 car are interlinked. We have to work in every area. I can assure you that the team’s doing everything in its power to get there.”

“Upbeat. Even if today’s result seems a bit disappointing I’m much more satisfied with my performance; We know that tomorrow’s race is going to be a difficult one, and we’ll do our best to salvage a few points. Our place on the grid gives us the opportunity to calculate the optimal fuel load, and to base our strategy around the qualifying results. It’s up to us to make the best of it.”