Formula One news

Kovalainen happy, diplomatic on Hamilton

Heikki Kovalainen missed out on a chance of taking pole position in a qualifying session where his team mate and Ferrari were struggling for pace in the wet. However, despite being beaten to pole by Sebastian Vettel, the Finn was happy with second.

"It was very close with Sebastian and I just missed the beginning of the session and my second lap wasn't quite as good and it started raining harder so it was tough on the track," Kovalainen said. "We're in a good position for the race tomorrow and the car feels strong in the wet and in the dry so we can look forward to a competitive race tomorrow."

Unlike team mate Hamilton, Kovalainen stayed on wet tyres at the start of Q2 and ensured he could get through to the pole shootout, while Hamilton's attempt on intermediate tyres cost him the chance of putting in a lap time before conditions deteriorated.

"With my crew, we decided to stay on the same set of tyres as in Q1, and it looked like it would rain harder so we wanted to get the lap in, obviously Lewis thought there was a chance with the intermediate tyres, but I'm sure he'll have a strong race tomorrow," he added.

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