By Edd Straw and Simon Strang Friday, July 4th 2008, 09:21 GMT
Heikki KovalainenHeikki Kovalainen has not given up his title aspirations for 2008, despite being 28 points behind world championship leader Felipe Massa as the Formula One season reaches its halfway stage at Silverstone this weekend.
"For me the championship is not over yet," he told reporters ahead of the British Grand Prix. "It might be over for you, but not for me.
"There are still many races to go. I still believe in my own ability and McLaren has never put a driver in a supporting role in the past. That will not be the case this year and I'm not willing to do that. So I'm pushing for myself.
"We still are focusing 100% for this year, in fact pushing even more than normal," he added. "The whole technical group is flat out improving this year's car because we are still in a fight for the championships."
The Finn, who has yet to score his maiden Grand Prix since joining McLaren this year, says that while a grid penalty cost him dearly in France, it is up to him and his team to improve.
And Kovalainen reckons that if they do, he has a strong chance of winning the British Grand Prix.
"The penalties for me are only because we have made some mistakes," he said. "As a team and as a driver we have to do a better job to avoid some mistakes. That's all. Otherwise I have no problem with the penalties.
"The car felt very strong [in the test], we made some improvements and I hope we can challenge for victory here."
Asked if he was frustrated that he had still to win a grand prix, Kovalainen replied: "No. It's not frustrating. Of course, I'd have liked to score more points but I just haven't been able to put together any weekends without problems, without incidents.
"The most important thing to do now is to keep the focus the same and keep pushing forward and eventually it will arrive," he added. "No doubt about that."
