Kovalainen will win a race

The five-place starting grid penalty for the two McLaren drivers has to some extent overshadowed the good qualifying performance put in by Heikki Kovalainen who managed to edge out team-mate Lewis Hamilton on only his second outing for McLaren. In an interview with Motorsport Magazin adrivo.com, McLaren-CEO Martin Whitmarsh delivered this glowing report: "He came into this team with all the pressure that involves. And then to hold your own alongside someone like Lewis who is so strong and so familiar with the way we work, that’s excellent."

According to Whitmarsh, in his nine weeks at McLaren, Kovalainen has made fantastic progress: "His self-confidence has grown enormously. His performance has got stronger and we are just at the beginning of a long relationship." Whitmarsh is expecting even greater things from the Finn in the next few years: "I'm sure that he will win a race some time this year and that will be a further boost to his performance and his self-confidence. I'm convinced that he will go from strength to strength." Source: 'adrivo.com Motorsport Magazin'