Kovalainen focused on beating team-mate Hamilton in 2008
Thursday, 13 Mar 2008 12:50
Heikki Kovalainen wants to beat McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the 2008 F1 season
New McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen says he is focusing on beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the 2008 formula one season.
The Finn only joined McLaren from Renault in the winter and is currently preparing for his first season behind the wheel with the Woking-based team.
But already Kovalainen has claimed he is confident of beating Hamilton on the track, despite the Briton finishing a close second to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers' world championship last season.
"He's clearly one of the favourites for the championship, he almost won it last year," Kovalainen said of his McLaren colleague.
"It's a big challenge for me to beat him but that is certainly something that I will do everything I can to be able to do."
The 26-year-old, like Hamilton, is in only his second season in the sport and the pair makes up one of the least experienced lineups on the grid.
But Kovalainen claims it is "a good situation" to be in as there will be no priority given to either driver.
"I believe I can push him throughout the year and I believe there will be times when we are close, hopefully I am ahead," he added.
Hamilton himself has also admitted he is "very, very optimistic" about 2008 ahead of the first race of the season in Australia this weekend.
And the Stevenage-born 23-year-old believes his experiences last year will help him to go one better than in 2007.
"I had a great year [in 2007] and I've gone from being a rookie to, I think, a very well experienced F1 driver," he said.
"This'll be a tough season but I feel that entering into the first grand prix, I know Australia and I know all the circuits - apart from perhaps one of the new ones - and the possibilites are even greater than they were last year."
Despite Hamilton's close relationship with team principal Ron Dennis, the young driver is under no illusions that he will face stiff competition from his new team-mate at every turn.
"[Heikki's] a great guy, very enthusaistic, very polite and easy to talk to," he concluded.
"But of course, we want to beat each other - we're both very competitive."
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