Kovalainen wants solid start

McLaren newcomer hoping to improve on last year's Australian GP

Last updated: 13th March 2008

heikki kovalainen mclaren mercedes 12/3/2008

Kovalainen: Better start

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Heikki Kovalainen has ruled out the possibility of challenging for pole position at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, saying instead he wants to focus of getting a solid race result.

The Finn will be making his debut for McLaren-Mercedes in Melbourne and wants to ensure his weekend is error-free.

Kovalainen made his F1 debut for Renault at the same track 12 months ago and had a torrid time, running off the track several times on his way to 10th place.

"I need to do many things correctly and I'm certainly not aiming for pole position," he said.

"I need all weekend to work better with my engineers, my mechanics, the whole team to make sure the car is well set up and I am full of confidence for qualifying and the race.

"Hopefully towards the end of the season I can fight for the top positions and if things go well, even early on.

"But for the moment the priority is just to start better than last year and not aim for pole."

Determined

Kovalainen's F1 bow moved then team boss Flavio Briatore to publicly lambast him and label his efforts as "rubbish."

But rather than break Kovalainen, Briatore's outburst made him more determined to do better.

"I've worked with Flavio for many years and I've learned a lot from him. He's given me strong advice and comments when I was in GP2 and F3," he said.

"I had no problem with that. It did sound more dramatic, and people probably thought that's not fair, but I prefer it that way.

"When there is a problem or things go bad it's better to say directly. I never took it that personally and I never had any problem with Flavio."