A great result - Kovalainen

The young Finnish ING Renault F1 Team driver, Heikki Kovalainen, took a career-best fourth place finish this afternoon during the Canadian Grand Prix at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit. We caught up with him afterwards.

"Relieved! It’s such a gratifying result for me after my start to the weekend. We were ready for a race with safety car interventions, and it worked. In addition, the car was quick and well balanced when necessary. It was also important not to stray off line as the rubber put down made the track very slippery."

"I think the best thing is to be happy with our fourth place; we deserved it. I could have tried to pass and I came very close to it on one occasion, but I didn’t want to risk a crash. It would have been the third in 3 days!"

"I don’t know if there is one! Ah yes. Before qualifying we modified the set-up to give a higher top speed. But the real key is mental attitude: you must never give in, never doubt yourself. I always believed things would work out this weekend despite the difficulties."

"I didn’t know that it was Robert until after the race. During the safety car period I talked strategy with my engineers. Then I saw it on TV; it was horrific. The fact that Robert got out of it without being badly hurt shows the incredible progress made in the last few years in terms of safety."