Heikki Kovalainen: Main target to improve reliability in second half of 2011 season – Formula 1 news
Team Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen has said that his main target at the moment is to improve reliability in the last eight rounds of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Kovalainen added that the team’s reliability has been poor in the season, so they must focus on it towards the end of the ongoing season.
The team driver further stated that Lotus must set their targets high for the rest of the season. He told the media that they are still busy working on their car in order to move closer towards the current strong teams.
The Finn driver discussed that they looked closer to the strong teams in the 2011 winter test sessions, but when the team brought some new upgrades to Melbourne, they were pushed back to the midfield, as the updates did not support them during the races.
He added that they are still not able to cover the massive gap from the top runners in the season.
In addition, he mentioned that they are still growing in the ongoing season. However, he said that he is hopeful they can perform better in the next F1 season as compared to 2011.
Kovalainen commented, “In a way, it was expected because we had a new engine, a new gearbox, a new rear end and the failures that we have had has been to do with [adapting to] that. But we are getting through the problems now and I don't expect those small
issues to be there next year.”
The 29-year-old driver went on to mention, “Off the shelf, it has to be more reliable and there's a good opportunity to do this because of all of our work this year. It takes time, but next year we will not have this excuse and we should be more reliable.”
The Hingham-based outfit driver is still not able to score a single point for the team in the 2011 F1 season so far. He retired from the 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix due to a water leakage issue in his T128 car.
The 12th race weekend of the ongoing season will take place on August 28, 2011 at Spa-Francorchamps.
Let’s see how Kovalainen manages his race in Belgium following his retirement from the Budapest race.
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