'McLaren must extract Heikki's his full potential'

Sunday 27th July 2008

Heikki Kovalainen has a lot potential that needs to be "extracted", according to McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh.

Kovalainen has showed big improvements in qualifying in recent races, starting on pole in Britain and on the second row in Germany. However, he has struggled to match is team-mate Lewis Hamilton on race day.

Whitmarsh believes Kovalainen is good enough to challenge the top drivers, and promises that McLaren will work closely with the Finn to help him realise his full potential.

"Firstly, let's not forget that Heikki is a brilliant racing driver," he said.

"His pass of Robert Kubica at Hockenheim reminded anybody who needed reminding that he has all the speed and skill to be battling at the front.

"But there's no magic in Formula 1 and we still need to work with Heikki to extract his full potential. At Hockenheim, he didn't get the best out of himself or the package and we need to work on how we fine-tune the car's set-up and how Heikki is involved in that process."

Post to del.icio.us

E-mail Article Print-Friendly Version Subscribe to News RSS Feed