Zoom Kovalainen battled on to finish fourth in France

The French Grand Prix, like Montreal two weeks ago, was not a good race for Lewis Hamilton. Following his ten position grid penalty from the Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton started 13th but a battle with Sebastian Vettel at the start of the race saw him cut across turn seven as he completed the pass. A drive through penalty followed and Hamilton was only able to recover to finish tenth.

Heikki Kovalainen started tenth and was able to move up the order to take the chequered flag on lap 70 right behind third place finisher Jarno Trulli.

Hamilton is now fourth in the championship with 38 points while Kovalainen is sixth with 20. McLaren remain third in the constructors’ standings with 58 points.

Heikki Kovalainen
“Given yesterday’s grid penalty, this was a very good result. It also shows that we had a great strategy to be able to come from tenth on the grid to fourth at the finish. During the first stint I lost a lot of time trying to get past slower cars; but, after that, fortunately, I was able to overtake, build a cushion and close the gap to the guys in front. The car felt fantastic throughout the whole race and the Bridgestone Potenza tyres worked really well. During the closing laps, I found myself behind Jarno and tried everything I could to overtake him, but I just couldn’t quite make it. He defended third place very well, so well done to him for that.”

Lewis Hamilton
“My drive-through penalty was an extremely close call: I felt I’d got past Vettel fairly and was ahead going into the corner. But I was on the outside and couldn’t turn-in in case we both crashed, then I lost the back-end and drove over the kerb. But, after that, I got my head down and pushed hard until the end of the race. I’ve been out of the points for three races now – but there are still ten to go. Kimi came from behind to win last year’s championship, so there’s no reason to be disheartened. I’m ten points behind, but I’m determined to bounce back at Silverstone in front of my home crowd.”

Ron Dennis
“A challenging weekend for us. Having said that, Heikki had a brilliant afternoon, driving superbly and fighting all the way to the chequered flag, and only narrowly missed the podium. Lewis’s race was severely hampered by his drive-through penalty. Now, though, we must draw a line under this weekend and look ahead. We’ve got a competitive car and two excellent drivers, and as such we’re in great shape. So now we need to focus on the British Grand Prix, and on getting the best results we possibly can at Silverstone, where we feel confident we’ll once again be able to challenge at the front.”