McLaren clarified earlier today that their driver, Heikki Kovalainen, would definitely be racing for the Woking based squad in the 2009 season, something the Finn was already aware of. Speaking at this afternoon’s official press conference ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Heikki revealed how thrilled he is racing for the team, and how despite reports to the contrary, he is not in a supporting role for Lewis, because simply said, Hamilton doesn’t need his support….

Heikki, some people are saying your role in McLaren is a support role for Lewis Hamilton. How do you see your role?

Well, I think first of all I don’t think Lewis needs any help. I think he has shown himself that he can do the job and that he doesn’t need anyone there. The second point is that I am trying to do the maximum for myself and I am not helping any other drivers, that’s for sure. And I have no instructions from the team. In the past it has been very clear that at McLaren they have had the policy of equal drivers and both have the same opportunities. I have the same car, the same opportunity and I am just working towards improving the pace and the results. The last few races have been a little bit disappointing but the only way to move on is to keep working hard and eventually the results will come. Interestingly, following this conversation it always arises that I am helping and I am in the support role but I don’t see it like that.

What about testing at Jerez for this grand prix. How did that go?
I think it went really well. Gary (Paffett) did the first day and Pedro (de la Rosa) the next two days and I did the final day. Overall I think we improved the package again. It is a very big push from everybody in the team to improve the car all the time. I think we are making good progress and for myself the last day we made some set-up changes and some modifications to try to improve my situation, especially improving the pace in the races. I feel that we have made a step forward and we will see how it goes this weekend but in general the qualifying has been strong but in the races I have suffered more, so we are trying to focus on that. I think we are making good progress and we will see this weekend if we have made a significant step or not.

This was a good race for you last year.
Yeah, I finished eighth, so it was good. You can only be satisfied when you win the race. I think I started last year from 12th position and finished eighth, so it was a good race. I had no big fights, no big incidents. It was a fairly straightforward race. I think I touched Fernando earlier on in the race and it made a little hole on the nose box, so I had a nice ventilation in the car. That’s what I remember from last year.

A lot of Finns come here. Does it feel like a home race?
At least last year I remember the atmosphere here being particularly good. There were many Finnish flags and I know there were a lot of Finnish fans around, so I think this could be the closest one to be considered my home grand prix with more supporters from Finland. Obviously unless we have a grand prix in Finland, it is not quite a home race.

What are your thoughts about McLaren clarifying your contract for next year?
I think as far as I am concerned I have never been worried about my contractual situation. Since the beginning of my McLaren career it has been the target to extend this relationship for many, many years. I think it is just to clarify the situation for everybody of where we are at the moment.  First of all I can say I am very, very happy with this team. I have had no second thoughts since I joined this team. I think there is a great potential in this team and I want to be part of it. I want to become a successful driver in this team and hopefully we can announce at some point in the future that I can stay here for many, many years. I would be happy to finish my career at this team to be honest.

After your intensive working in Jerez last week, how much closer do you think you are to Lewis’s race pace?
I am confident that we made steps forward and I think it is fair to say that Lewis hit the sweet-spot in the last couple of races pretty well. It was always going to be difficult to match him. We will find out this weekend how things have improved. I think had the Silverstone race been dry, it could have been a different story. I felt my car was very strong there and the whole package was very much together and at Hockenheim I was never able to get the same feeling. I think we have got on top of things pretty well. Certainly the feeling at Woking and the last day I spent testing in Jerez confirmed that we are heading in the right direction but the only way to improve the things is to keep working, keep moving forward and eventually we will arrive there. I have no doubt about that.

Question about the sharkfin engine cover. How important is it for your driving style and for the performance of the car?
I haven’t tested it but we tried it in Hockenheim, I think Lewis tried it, and again, I feel we didn’t really feel a difference, so that’s why we haven’t run it since then. I think we need to maybe work on it a little bit more and to understand where the benefits are and where there are no benefits. I think that we’re not running it at the moment.

I was at the Ennstal Classic last weekend, an old-timer rally, and there was a meeting of the former Formula One drivers’ club. There were names like Hans Herrmann and Sir Stirling Moss. Jochen Mass was voted as new president and he said that he wanted to make the club younger, to open it up for younger drivers. Do you recognise this club, can you imagine meeting your fellow drivers when you are 45 to go fishing or to watch the Monaco Grand Prix or something like that?
If they ask me to join the club, I make my decision whether my girlfriend is happy or not. I try to keep it that way, I think it’s better.

Where are you going to go in the holiday break and are you going to go to Beijing to see the Olympic Games, and which is the sport that you will principally follow in the Olympics?
HK: I think I will go – and this is probably the only time apart from Christmas – I will go to north Finland to see my parents, in the area where I am born, and do a little bit of fishing and just walking in the forest and enjoying not seeing anyone else but myself. I will see some animals: reindeer, maybe bears, things like that. In my family I make decisions where I go, I don’t know what my girlfriend will do, but this is my holiday.
FA: You will see… wait two years!
HK: This is a team order in my team and I’m in the strong position this time. As for the Olympic Games, I’m definitely going to be watching a lot of it and I think that, as a Finn, the most interesting part will be the javelin competition. We have a guy who was World Champion last year, Tero Pitkämäki, and I’m going to try to support him especially, to take the gold medal. He has a great opportunity. We have a few other guys, other athletes who have a good opportunity to be successful but I’m very interested in athletics, and I watch all these Grands Prix meetings on television mostly. I will spend a lot of my time, and again, I might need to put team orders in place because my girlfriend might be watching something else.