Kovalainen: I felt I was the number two

Heikki Kovalainen says he struggled with being slotted into the “number two” role at McLaren in 2009, but concedes he was not driving as well as he had the previous season.

Writing in a guest blog on the official McLaren website, Kovalainen has spoken of his time at McLaren where he partnered Lewis Hamilton.

The Brit won the World title in their first season together while the Finn was only seventh with one win and two additional podiums to his tally.

As such it was Hamilton who was favoured in their second season, something Kovalainen admits he struggled with.

“I mentally wasn’t sharp enough to really try to get more out of it,” he wrote.

“Also Lewis got some parts ahead of me, and maybe I let it affect me a little bit when he got slightly better service, if you like.

“More than the first season I felt I was the number two, but I should have ignored that and just got on with the job. I wasn’t driving as well as I was before.”

2009 would be Kovalainen’s final season with McLaren as then team boss Martin Whitmarsh informed him early in the campaign that they were trying to sign either Kimi Raikkonen …

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