You make your own luck - Symonds

For the ING Renault F1 Team’s executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, Heikki Kovalainen's performance has nothing to do with luck. The young Finn finished the Canadian Grand Prix in 4th place.

"It’s not easy! But there is a group of people on the pit-wall watching the situation of all the drivers: Steve Nielsen, the race engineers, Alan Permane, Flavio etc. We keep each other informed and share our comments. I’ll give you an example: we knew that Rubens Barrichello would have to pit again towards the end of the race, as he had only used one type of tyre up to that point."

"In F1, you’ve got to make your own luck and grab the opportunities that arise. Heikki drove the right kind of race. We did what we had to do to make the most of the race incidents. Putting on soft tyres in the very short middle stint was a good decision. He went from twenty-second on the grid to fourth at the chequered flag; that’s good work!"

"That’s the negative aspect of the weekend. Giancarlo could have been on the podium today. But there was an error, and anyone can make a mistake in the heat of the moment. In any case, the car seems to have confirmed the progress made recently, and we should continue the momentum at Indianapolis in a week’s time."