A real step forward - Kovalainen

The Finnish ING Renault F1 Team's rookie driver, Heikki Kovalainen, can look back at a successful Turkish weekend. The youngster finished 6th at Istanbul Park, collecting 3 points for Renault. Once again, Kovalainen was faster than team mate Fisichella.

"Yes. If I had to sum up this race in a word, it would be satisfaction. But, of course, it’s not really the kind of result that the team and I are after. We’re aiming higher. But it has to be said that it was a good race."

"The start was really pretty hectic as Heidfeld pushed me to the outside in the first corner. I had to lift off a little but I managed to defend my place, and once the tyres got up to their working temperature after a few laps the car’s handling was consistent and predictable and my race pace was good. The team did a remarkable job during my refuelling stops and our strategy paid off."

"Yes, it’s true that seeing P1 on the board was nice - but our aim is to see P1 as soon as possible at the end of the race!"

"Since the Nürburgring we’ve brought in some evolutions, and we were just waiting for the right opportunity to show that they represent a real step forward: I think we’ve proved that this weekend. We have to stay concentrated and try and progress a little more between now and Monza. That’s among the reasons why we’ll be doing three days’ testing in Italy this week."