HEIKKI KOVALAINEN

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Heikki 'never doubted' he'd get a new McLaren deal

Friday 8th August 2008

Heikki Kovalainen insists he never once doubted that McLaren would extend his contract despite failing to match Lewis Hamilton's results this season.

While Hamilton led McLaren's Championship charge from the start, Kovalainen struggled to match his team-mate's performances only finally getting his break-through maiden victory in Hungary last weekend.

The Finn's P1 came just 72 hours after McLaren put an end to rumours that Kovalainen could be dropped, handing him a one-year extension on his current deal.

But while some may have questioned Kovalainen's future at Woking, he says he never doubted that McLaren would keep him on.

"It doesn't change anything for me," he told Setanta Ireland. "I've always known the situation with my contract.

"There was obviously a lot of talk going around but I'm very happy with this team.

"When I began (with McLaren), the target was to extend this contract, and I'm very happy to stay here."

However, asked whether he had been happy during his year at Renault, which saw him publicly lambasted by his team boss Flavio Briatore on more than one occasion, Kovalainen refused to rise to the bait.

"I have no regrets with my previous team and I have nothing to say on that, it has all passed," he said.

"I learned a lot - we had good times, we had bad times - but at the moment I am very happy with McLaren. The atmosphere here is very good.

"Now we can just focus on racing and getting good results, we don't need to talk about contracts.

"The bottom line is that we are targeting a long-term relationship. We're both very happy with each other and the focus is now to get the results I think we deserve."

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