Raikkonen is the right champion - Kovalainen

In his BBC-column, Renault F1 Team driver Heikki Kovalainen said that the strongest driver has won the Championship title this season. Kimi Raikkonen won the title in his first season for Ferrari after leaving McLaren.

Kovalainen said: It's fair to say that in the last few races, Kimi was the strongest. All of them had a bad race at some point, everyone made a few errors, but I don't think you can put it down to luck. Kimi really was the strongest driver throughout the year. When he got comfortable with his car - the tyres, the set-up and the team - he really was the guy to beat. He scored the most points in the last six or seven races. He is absolutely the right champion."

As McLaren has launched an appeal after the race stewards decided not to punish BMW and Williams for the temperature discrepancy during the Brazilian Grand Prix, Raikkonen can still lose his title. Fellow countryman Kovalainen hopes that this will not happen.

"I guess it needs to be sorted out but I hope the Championship result stands. Lewis had a very good season and Fernando and Felipe Massa were strong, but when it came down to the last few races, Kimi never gave up. I know him and I think he's always thought that somehow he was going to do it. The right guy won it. I really hope the appeal over the Brazilian Grand Prix doesn't change anything. I guess it needs to be sorted out but I hope the championship result stands."