Even Raikkonen warmed to the excitement of Kovalainen over his first GP victory. (LAT photo)
Heikki Kovalainen’s frustrations came to an end in Hungary where it was someone else’s turn to have bad luck, as the Finn took advantage of Felipe Massa’s engine failure to score his first win. He’s had electronic problems on the grid in Monaco, his wheel failure in Spain, a first lap puncture in Turkey and two qualifying penalties, but finally it all came together. It wasn’t all down to luck, because at the time he was pushing Massa hard as the car worked well on supersoft tires. After the race he shared his thoughts with the media.
Q: Heikki, it has been a long road but your first win in Formula One. Describe your feelings as you crossed the line.
“Yeah, of course I was very happy. Like you mentioned there have been various incidents this year and we have been in the position after Saturday quite a few times to fight for the victory, but always something has gone wrong and it hasn’t functioned perfectly. Today obviously I knew Massa and Lewis were both very fast at the beginning of the race but half way through the race I felt it was starting to work for me a little bit better and then at the end I just tried to put pressure on Massa and hoped something would happen and obviously it looked like he had a mechanical failure, so it all worked fine for me today and I am very, very happy about it. All the hard work that the whole team has put in the last few months, through difficult times, we just kept pushing and it is very respectable and I am very, very glad to score my first victory.”
Q: The car looked particularly good in the last stint on the softer tires. How quick was the car relative to Felipe, do you think?
“It is difficult to say what he was doing. I was catching him quite a big chunk every lap and the target was to try and put pressure on him and take all the power from his engine and everything I could do to put pressure on him. Like you said, my car felt particularly good on the last stint. The first two stints I was a little bit cautious. Earlier this year I have had some troubles with the tire degradation and I was worried if I crossed that edge again I might start to struggle. I just kept my own pace and then in the last stint it all worked fine for me.”
Q: In the last few laps you knew you were leading and the Finnish anthem was played for you this time on the podium.
“It is fantastic. It is a great moment. Of course it is a moment I have been targeting for many, many years now since I started to get an idea about the possibility of becoming an F1 driver. I started to work hard and improve my fitness. I have spent a lot of time to achieve this goal, so to finally achieve it, is very pleasing. Hopefully this is the first of many. At the moment we just need to keep the concentration, have a little break and try to maximize this break and then go to the next round and try to repeat it.”
Q: Where do you think the balance of power now lies?
“I think it is still very, very close and it is very difficult to draw any conclusions who is ahead. It just depends whoever nails it on the day. It is so sensitive at the moment that if you don’t get the setup perfect and if you don’t get the tires feeling perfect and if you don’t get your driving perfect there are going to be three or four guys ahead of you straight away. I think it is quite interesting. I think it is really spectacular for all the fans. For us it puts a lot of pressure on everybody to maximize everything but it should be a very interesting end of the season with all the teams pushing very hard to see who comes out on top at the end.”
Q: What’s it like winning your first grand prix?
“It feels pretty good. I could do it again. It is not so bad!
“Of course, I feel a little bit sorry for Felipe and for Lewis. They both drove a great race but I know how it feels what happened to them today. I had similar moments this year quite a few times. But I tried to put pressure, especially in the last stint, on Felipe, trying to push him and maybe something would happen, you never know. When I saw the car on fire in the main straight with big smoke I thought it must be Felipe, but it is hard to believe. After that of course there was no big rush anymore. With three laps to go it was just a case of bringing it home. In the end it is a great moment for myself and I am very happy. It is a very happy moment for our team and I am looking forward to the rest of the season. We are heading in the right direction and it is just a case now of keep pushing even through this brake a little bit and then try again next time.”
Q: What were your emotions during the race? They must have been extraordinary.
“Yeah, but obviously for myself it wasn’t quite like that. I just tried to keep it tidy and not make any mistakes and also the first two stints especially with the hard tire I just tried to look after those tires. Earlier this year there were quite a few times when I thought the tires were dropping off as I was a little bit too hard on them, so I tried not to go too much. I just tried to go with the pace that I felt was available at that moment and just tried to increase it when I could. Then with the soft tire at the end it felt particularly good and I felt confident to push and the tire wasn’t dropping off. Then when I tried to put pressure on Felipe I was catching him and in the end it was over.”
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