Robert Kubica:
I mean Turkey is not really a favourite track for me and not the one where I have been lucky. In 2006 in my second race in F1 we had some problems with the tyres, last year I started pretty well but then faced some graining problems. I am looking forward as this year's car is a bit easier for me to drive and I am performing better, so I hope to turn it a different way on this track and hope to be competitive.
Q:
Qualifying, however, is still good. It is just in the races that the positions are going down this year.
RK:
I think it depends where you look and how much fuel you get. In Australia I was first row but unfortunately I could not finish the race due to the accident with Nakajima. In Malaysia I started with a heavy car and improved my position. Okay, in Bahrain it was difficult to face
Ferrari and in Barcelona we were very close with
McLaren, so we knew we had to stay in front of them after the first lap. We didn't manage with
Lewis Hamilton but still the race pace I think was very strong.
Q:
Heikki, good to see you and glad that you have passed the test this morning. Can you give us some idea of what you had to do?
Heikki Kovalainen:
It's basically a test all the drivers have to go through when they start their career in
F1. When I started last year in Australia I did the base line test. It is a combination of tests and calculations. Basically they check how your brain and body is working and the reactions. I redid the test this morning and improved the score, so the impact seems to have a good effect.
Q:
Have you noticed how you have been getting better since the accident itself?
HK:
Yes. Obviously the Monday morning after the accident I had a little bit of a headache. But since then it has improved quite rapidly. It was on Thursday when I got out of Spain and on Saturday I started normal training in Finland. I went to a sports institute that is doing work with McLaren and together with our team doctor I went over there and started to prepare for this race. Since then everything has been normal and I am looking forward to hopefully a strong weekend and to getting back in the car and I feel 100 per cent.
Q:
When I asked Robert this question in France last year about his accident in Montreal there was a certain amount of hilarity. Have you seen it on television and what has been your reaction?
HK:
I have seen it on television afterwards. It was a serious accident I managed to walk away from. I think I was a little bit lucky but also must stress that all the safety standards that the
FIA has been pushing for worked very well there. The chassis took the impact reasonably well as did the barriers. The FIA medical team and the marshals did a fantastic job to get me out of there quickly and in a short period of time I am able to make a recovery without any injuries in my body. I think it is something that we must still keep working on but the work paid off that day.
Q:
Are you surprised that Heikki has such a quick recovery, as you, of course, weren't able to race the week after and had to wait.
RK:
I am not really surprised. He said he was lucky he only had headache the day after. It was a bit similar with me. I didn't have headache but I had a pain in my ankle. But I was one week later in America and I could not race, but I think we are all happy that he is back. I think if he does a good weekend everyone will say he is stronger after accident which was the case with me but which was completely not right.
