What’s Kovalainen smoking?

Kovalainen had better stop smoking that happy weed. He's become delusional

Heikki Kovalainen believes Team Lotus has the potential to haul itself up the grid and fight at the very top in the future. Indeed the Finn is confident the F1 newcomer can make the kind of progress that Red Bull Racing has made in recent years and eventually take on the likes of Ferrari and McLaren.

“I think that this has to be our target and I think we need to set ourselves high goals," Kovalainen said in an interview with paultan.org.

“I don’t want to be just with an average team at the back of the grid. We want to get better and I know that the people in this team know what it takes and what we need to put in place to be able to do that.

“And that’s why it’s very important to keep working flat out. I’m going to keep pushing even if the car is not quick enough. Because when we arrive at the point that the cars are quick, then we all need to be ready.

“Like I said if we believe it, we can do it and if we believe enough then we can definitely achieve it."

Team-mate Jarno Trulli is similarly optimistic, although he knows it won’t happen overnight: “It will take time. If we look back at what Red Bull was able to do with the resources they had from the beginning, it just show you how tough it is – the Formula 1 business – and how long it might take," he continued.

“For some people, it never happens. I raced for Toyota, they had great resources, unlimited resources, and they never achieved what they wanted. They were never capable of producing a winning car, despite the resources. That shows how tough and how difficult F1 is.

“I think that Team Lotus and Tony [Fernandes] are extremely committed but they will need to understand that it will take time to reach the top, even though already for next year, Tony has done a good job.

"He has put a very nice package together, a good gearbox and engine, which makes me feel confident for 2011."

[Editor's Note: What is Kovalainen smoking? His team is not a Ferrari or a McLaren and they don't have Adrian Newey, the best designer in F1, bar none. We guess it is nice to dream.]