By Simon Strang and Jonathan Noble Saturday, March 15th 2008, 18:13 GMT
Heikki KovalainenHeikki Kovalainen believes that starting the Australian Grand Prix from the clean side of the track could give him a crucial advantage over front row man Robert Kubica.
Kovalainen, who qualified third in Melbourne for his McLaren debut, two tenths behind Kubica's BMW, reckons the ban on traction control will put even more emphasis on a clean start - which will be easier to achieve on the rubbered-in side of the Albert Park grid.
"To be honest, the clean side is a little advantage every year regardless of traction control," said Kovalainen. "It always helps, but tomorrow the tricky thing is to get a clean start.
"All the starts are manual now, and it's very difficult to make a perfect start and it's easy to make a bad start and spin the wheels because there's a lot of power coming through the rear axle and you're trying to control it with your foot.
"That will be tricky but hopefully the clean side will help me a little bit and give us a good start for the race."
Despite teammate and pole man Lewis Hamilton out-qualifying Kovalainen by more than 0.3 seconds, the Finn is happy with his first weekend so far with the McLaren team. He insists that he is playing himself in and that there is plenty more performance to come.
"It's been very comfortable for me," he said. "Of course, there's still more pace to come - I need to find more time. I need to improve a little bit but so far it's been a good weekend without any major issues and the car's been working well without any tech problems and it's been a clean weekend.
"That's exactly what I was aiming for and now I just need to finish off the weekend with a strong race. If I get a good position we'll definitely be off to a good start.
"It was a steady lap without any extra attack. I think there will be more to come ? there is definitely more to come ? but it's important to step by step increase the pace. It was a good lap but it can still be better."
Kovalainen also said he has not been concerned about returning to the scene of his difficult Formula One debut with Renault 12 months ago, adding that he is a much stronger driver now.
"I didn't have any pressure remembering last year," he said. "I feel a lot stronger as a person ? mentally stronger ? and I feel very stable in this team. Everybody has been giving me good support ? no big expectations; they know what I can do and how the winter has been.
"I can do a strong job for the team ? I haven't felt like I need to show I can do a better weekend than last year. Last year is past and something I don't have to think about. I will be stronger towards the end of the season; I can do a better job."
