GP – Kovalainen on Top, Hamilton Makes a Mistake

Heikki Kovalainen admitted that he was very satisfied with his performance in qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix as he will be placed on the front row.

The McLaren driver, who was only allowed to participate in the Turkish race on Thursday following his accident in Catalonia, is second just behind Felipe Massa with his F2008.

« It has been a bit of a rollercoaster these past two weeks, » commented the Finn, who outqualified his teammate Lewis Hamilton for the second time this season.

« I was lucky not to be injured after my accident. The recovery was fantastic, and I must say thank you to the Spanish and Finnish doctors. »

“I would not have come here if I had the feeling of being half-recovered from this event. Last week, I completed a normal physical preparation, and everything was fine,” added Kovalainen.

As for Lewis Hamilton, he is disappointed with his tire choice as he was never in contention to fight for pole position. He will, therefore, start the race from third place.

While all his opponents had opted for softer tires, the McLaren driver decided to do the opposite because he felt the car was more in sync.

Ultimately, this decision was not the right one, and Hamilton admitted that it was a mistake.

« It was a difficult qualifying session for me. I had magnificent laps in Q1 and Q2 but in Q3, it was not the same!

« I suppose I made a bad decision, » he added.

« My first run in Q3 was not too bad. The second was an improvement over the first but it was still not fast enough. »