Rate this article:
Greenlight Andretti Green Danica Patrick 1st Win 2008
This is a replica of the racecar used during the 2008 Japan race in which she won her first race ever!
Our Price: 1/18th Scale - $45.95 ($41.36 Member)
Ducati Red Team Logo Hat
100% cotton. Embroidered. Adjustable strap.
Our Price: $36.00 ($32.40 Member)
Formula 1 2009 Calendar
Every month is accompanied by a superb action shot from the 2008 season, with essential information about the sport.
Our Price: $16.95 ($15.26 Member)
Written by:
RACER Staff
http://www.racer.com
03/20/2007 - 07:00 PM
Melbourne, Australia
Kovalainen didn't exactly set the world on fire in Australia. (LAT photo) ยป More Photos
Renault's managing director of engineering Pat Symonds has defended Heikki Kovalainen's performance in the Australian Grand Prix, after team boss Flavio Briatore described the rookie driver's opening race as "rubbish."
The Finn made a series of mistakes and only finished 10th in his first Formula 1 race. But Symonds insisted that there were mitigating circumstances.
"The scene does get set from the start," Symonds declared on the team's website. "What happens on Friday has a knock-on effect all the way through the weekend, and unfortunately he didn't have a good Friday, he didn't have a good Saturday. A lot of time lost with some problems on the fuel system, and of course partly the weather on Friday as well."
Symonds reiterated his belief that the team must expect errors from Kovalainen at this early stage in his F1 career.
"We've always said that when you take on a new driver, you've got to accept and got to live with the mistakes that they're going to make in their first race," he said. "It's only natural and most of them do it."
Catch up on the latest Formula 1 developments each month in RACER. Check out our look at how Kimi Raikkonen settled in at Ferrari over the winter in our April issue, on sale now!
Kovalainen himself, however, remained highly critical of his Melbourne efforts.
"To be honest, it was as bad a race as it possibly can be," he said. "We had a lot of problems on Friday and Saturday, so I did miss quite a lot of track time and as it's a new circuit (to me), it probably would have helped me a little bit. But in any case, it should not be an excuse. I think I had enough track time to learn the track and be able to push better in qualifying.
"But I didn't manage to do a good lap in qualifying, and then in the race I was stuck behind the other cars literally for the whole race and when there was a possibility to make some ground then I made a couple of mistakes and fell back again.
"It's very disappointing and I should have been able to do a lot better than this. All we can do is forget about it and go to Malaysia with heads up again and start from zero."
