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Heikki Kovalainen has opened up about his time at McLaren, telling the team's website that he wasn't able to perform as well as team mate Lewis Hamilton during his two year spell at the team.
The Finn scored his only Formula One victory for the team almost exactly eight years ago but that would prove to be a high point in a period that saw him overshadowed by his world champion team mate.
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"I just wasn't able to extract from the car as much as Lewis was. It was an important time, and I obviously needed some results at that point," said Kovalainen. "I mentally wasn't sharp enough to really try to get more out of it. Also Lewis got some [new car] parts ahead of me, and maybe I let it affect me a little bit when he got slightly better service, if you like.
"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."
The former Renault driver eventually left the team at the end of 2009, amid speculation that the team was chasing world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button to fill his seat. Kovalainen admits that he was aware of the team's efforts to replace him at the time.
"[Then team principal] Martin Whitmarsh kept me up to date. He told me early on that they will look for another driver, they will look for Kimi [Raikkonen], and they were also looking for Jenson Button. But both of those drivers might not be available, and Martin said to me if not, then you'll be the third choice," he said. "I was in America and it was Thanksgiving Day when Martin called me to say, 'We have signed Jenson.' My results weren't good enough, and I was kind of expecting it.
Despite his difficult time up against Hamilton and his less-than-ideal exit from the team, Kovalainen maintains that he had some good times at the Woking team.
"But I have good memories of McLaren, and it was the best team I ever worked with, a really great team and a powerful team," he insisted. "Sometimes nowadays when I see them struggling I feel sorry for them, and I hope they can come back to where they should be."
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