McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh says Heikki Kovalainen has no reason to be disappointed with his performance in last weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

He qualified alongside Sebastian Vettel on the front row of the grid at Monza, but was unable to challenge the Scuderia Toro Rosso driver at any point during the race and had to settle for second place.

Kovalainen looked disheartened on the podium but Whitmarsh defended the Finn's pace and claimed the team were not unhappy with

The McLaren driver was strong all day, overshadowing teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was unable to make it into the final shootout.

Kovalainen finished less than a tenth behind pole-setter Sebastian Vettel, and the Finn was left optimistic he can have a good race tomorrow.

"It was very close with Sebastian and I just missed the beginning of the session," Kova

The Finn has struggled during the season with overworking his rear tyres and, despite making significant progress in tackling the problem in recent races, he believes the Monza weather could help him at a track where McLaren is expected to have the edge over Ferrari.

"If it's cooler here it should probably be

“I got squeezed between two cars at the first corner, and it cost me a lot of places. But I knew I had the car to claw things back and was making good progress until I came up alongside Mark Webber at the final chicane. I knew I was faster than him, but maybe he didn’t realise I was on the inside and we touched, spinning him in front of me. That’s racing. It was a racing accident, but it earned me a drive-through penalty and knocked me back down the field. Still, my pa

作为F1的二年级生，芬兰车手海基·科瓦莱宁在赛季初经历了一个困难的开始后，现在已渐入佳境，迈凯轮车队CEO马丁·惠特马什评价科瓦莱宁变得越发完善了。