In a pre-British Grand Prix interview,
Heikki Kovalainen has joked that team-mate
Lewis Hamilton is ‘very good, but not quite as good as me' – and has insisted the only result he will be truly satisfied with at Silverstone is victory.
The young Finn has endured a trying start to his 2008
Formula 1 campaign with McLaren-Mercedes, sitting equal on points with Hamilton following the opening three races, but since then scoring just twice and slipping some 18 points adrift of the Briton in the title standings.
Kovalainen's bad luck started in the Spanish Grand Prix, when he plunged headlong into the Circuit de Catalunya's crash barriers at more than 160mph following a wheel rim failure, leaving him severely shaken but thankfully otherwise unhurt. He bounced back to record the maiden front row grid slot of his fledgling career in the top flight in Turkey just a fortnight later – only to be assaulted by the
Ferrari of countryman
Kimi Raikkonen into the first corner – and then lost out when his electronics failed him on the grid in Monaco, leaving him to fight his way up the order once more, gutsily grabbing the final point for eighth place.
The appearance of the safety car similarly saw to his hopes in Montreal, but a strong performance in Magny-Cours last time out – battling his way through the pack following a controversial grid penalty for having been deemed to have impeded
Red Bull Racing's
Mark Webber during qualifying – earned him fourth spot at the chequered flag, and handed him a timely boost ahead of
Silverstone.
“I think there's been a lot of promise and the pace has been good,” the 26-year-old reflected in an interview with
Radio 1's Newsbeat programme, “but we haven't got good enough results yet.
“There have been a lot of incidents. I had an accident in Barcelona and also some technical issues; [due to] all these things that have come up, I haven't managed to put the whole weekend together yet, but I'm planning to start it at Silverstone. Hopefully we can have a weekend without any incidents and deliver with the promise that we've had.
