Heikki Kovalainen felt 11th place was the best he could have salvaged from the penultimate row of the grid in Abu Dhabi, given a problem with his Kinetic Energy Recovery System in the race’s second half and a general lack of confidence in the car’s handling.
The Finn’s chances of finishing the year with a podium finish had already been ruined by a gearbox failure in qualifying and a consequent five-place penalty for changing the unit, but he was hopeful of charging through the field and into the points.
He shadowed countryman and fellow one-stopper Kimi Raikkonen in the opening stint, and leapfrogged the Ferrari at the pit stop exchange, but then had to switch off his KERS device after the system malfunctioned.
While that was a hindrance, Kovalainen admitted he simply wasn’t able to extract much pace from the MP4-24 in any case.
“I couldn’t go any quicker today,” he related.
“I got a really good start and managed to overtake some cars, but the KERS stopped working after my pit stop so I was running the second stint without it.
“But honestly I couldn’t find any more [pace].
“For me it was the maximum; I struggled to find more with this car.
“I tried until the very last corner to push as hard as I could, but I could not find any more time. It’s pretty much the story of the season.”
Team principal Martin Whitmarsh sympathised with Kovalainen’s plight.
“Yet again Heikki was the undeserved victim of bad luck,” he said.
“His qualifying was spoiled through no fault of his own and as a result he lined up 18th for today’s race.
“He made a fantastic start – displaying a perfect combination of aggression and discipline – and passed Kimi at the first pit stops as a result, just as we’d hoped he would.
“Thereafter he stayed ahead of Kimi – which wasn’t strictly necessary from a points-scoring point of view but gave us the comfort we needed in terms of the constructors’ championship – and then adapted extremely well to the performance and balance compromises forced upon him by a mid-race KERS failure.”
Kovalainen’s destiny in 2009 remains uncertain.
Asked whether he expected to stay with McLaren or move elsewhere (the current favourite being Toyota), he replied: “I don’t know yet. Let’s see after a few days or a few weeks.”