Kovalainen Resolves To Be Less Stressed In 2009

Asked whether he could close the gap on Hamilton, Kovalainen sounded confident.

After a season as Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team mate, Heikki Kovalainen has made a New Year's resolution to be less stressed in 2009.

"I think I put perhaps too much expectation on myself and sometimes I was too hard on myself if I didn't get the pole position or win the race," the Finn told reporters at the launch of his team's new car on Friday.

"Looking back now, I think I had some really good races even compared to Lewis. There were many, many positives but he obviously managed to score more points and also drove really well last year.

"I don't think I need to blame myself all the time.

"I want the year to be more enjoyable, more relaxed and if I have one session where I don't think I maximised everything I am not going to get stressed about it," said Kovalainen.

The Finn won one race last year, in Hungary after Ferrari's Felipe Massa suffered an engine failure while heading for victory, but was otherwise eclipsed by his 24-year-old British team mate.

Hamilton took five victories and scored 98 points while Kovalainen, who joined from Renault at the end of 2007 in a straight swap for unhappy double world champion Fernando Alonso, ended up in seventh place with 53.

BETTER SHAPE

Asked whether he could close the gap on Hamilton, Kovalainen sounded confident.

"To finish seventh in the championship is obviously not something I was planning to do," he said. "But this year hopefully we can start the season and carry on in a better shape.

"The preparation has gone really well and I'm better prepared compared to this time last year and I know how the team operates.

"I think we have analysed a lot what happened last year and the last few races actually weren't that bad," he added. "Even if the results might not show that, the race pace was actually very competitive.

"I already felt at the end of last year that we were definitely improving and we were on the right track. Hopefully we can just keep that consistently good."

With testing now banned during the course of the season as a cost-cutting measure, the drivers stand to have more time on their hands and Kovalainen said he would make the most of it by more frequent visits to the factory.

"I think we will be spending more time here in the simulator, probably getting sore eyes after a few days looking at the screen," he said.