Kovalainen puts McLaren tenure behind him

Heikki Kovalainen starts a new chapter of his career this year as he moves from McLaren Mercedes to Lotus. His time with the former saw the Finn dominated by Lewis Hamilton but he believes that he did not get the best out of the McLaren package and can shine alongside Jarno Trulli at the new Lotus F1 team.

"I don’t think there are any areas I particularly need to improve," Kovalainen told the Sun newspaper. "Some people think I’m a good qualifier and not such a good racer. But that has only been while I was at McLaren.”

His two year tenure alongside Hamilton at McLaren saw him record one Grand Prix victory and finish seventh and 12th in the championship. In contrast, Hamilton won the 2008 championship and was recovered to finish fifth last year.

"If you look at my time at Renault in 2007 the race performances were actually very strong," he said. "I felt I got more out of the Renault than I did the McLaren. Now I am more determined than ever to do a good job for my new team."

The new team is scheduled to attend the third pre-season test with the new Lotus Cosworth at Jerez on 17 February. Kovalainen expects the new Mike Gascoyne design to be reliable from the outset, but admits there are questions with regards to its performance.

"My aim at Lotus is to get the best out of the team and the car. I don’t see any reason why the results won’t come."