McLaren: we want to keep Kovalainen, but he’ll have to improve

While Lewis Hamilton’s stunning victory in Hungary put the reigning world champion - and a recovering McLaren - back in centre stage, Hamilton’s team mate Heikki Kovalainen is yet to make a real impression this season. With five retirements and only three point-scoring finishes, Kovalainen is languishing 12th in the standings - a full 19 points adrift of the tally he had after 10 races in 2008.

正當Lewis Hamilton在匈牙利站令人吃驚的勝利將自己和麥拉倫車隊重新拉回到中游的位置，而他的隊友Heikki Kovalainen在本季則還沒有驚人的表現。五次退賽而且目前只拿到三分，Kovalainen在積分榜上排第十二位，跟他在08賽季同樣十場比賽後差了19分。

For a driver without a confirmed seat for next season, it must be a worrying time. And while team boss Martin Whitmarsh is full of praise for the Finn, he also revealed that he will be looking for an improvement in his driver’s results over the coming Grands Prix, if the 27 year-old is to keep his race drive.

對一個下一季的職位還不確定的車手來說，現在一定是要擔心的時候了。並且車隊經理Martin Whitmarsh在鼓勵這位芬蘭人之餘，也透露他如果想要保有現在的車手位置，必須要在接下來的比賽中提升他的表現。

“Heikki, as a team player, is doing a fantastic job,” explained Whitmarsh during a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 'Phone-In' session. “By his own evaluation he hasn’t raced as well as he would have liked, and we would have liked him to, this year. I was just talking to him on the subject about three minutes before I came to this call, as he’s in the factory at the moment.

"作為一個車手，Heiki表現非常好"，Whitmarsh在麥拉倫車隊的電話訪問中如此表示。"但是他並沒有表現出以往的水準，也不符我們所期望的水準。在這通電話前，這時他正在工廠裡，我只跟他用了約三分鐘討論合約的事"。

“He’s working hard. But it’s true to say we haven’t confirmed our driver line-up for next year. A lot of us want to see Heikki get some good results this year and that will ensure that he will remain with us. That’s certainly our wish and his goal going into Valencia this weekend is to win and he is capable of winning the race this weekend.”

"他在工作上很努力，但是我們必須說我們對於明年的車手組合還沒有做決定。我們很希望Heikki在今年可以拿出好成績來，那麼我們保證他一定會繼續留在隊上。這是我們最大的希望，而且這週末他在瓦倫西亞的目標就是贏得比賽，他也有能力可以贏得比賽"。

According to Whitmarsh, one of Kovalainen’s strengths is his qualifying ability. And he wants his driver to concentrate on maintaining his Saturday pace, which has seen him clinch two consecutive sixth-place grid slots over the last two races,

whilst also raising his game during Sunday’s action in order to get some vital points.

據Whitmarsh所說，Kovalainen的優勢是他在排位賽的表現，Kovalainen在最近兩次比賽排位皆在第七排，而他也希望Kovalainen能專注維持週六時的表現，才能提升在正賽中的表現而拿到關鍵的分數。

“He has been a good qualifier and has done some good qualifying times, and he is capable of qualifying well and winning this race,” added Whitmarsh. “So that is what he’s going to focus on, and I've just had that conversation with him. Then on Sunday evening he will start thinking about Spa, and that is what we want him to focus on - not all the speculation.”

"他的排位表現很好，也做出一些很好的成績，而他必須在這場比賽拿到好的排位並贏得比賽"，Whitmarsh補充說。"這就是他要專注的事，而我為此也與他溝通過，在週日下午他開始思考如何應付Spa賽道，這就是我們要他專注的事"。

Several Germans, including BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, Williams’ Nico Rosberg and Force India’s Adrian Sutil, have been tipped to take Kovalainen’s place in the Mercedes-powered team next year, but Whitmarsh was quick to dismiss the rumours, stating that they are not involved in any active negotiations with other drivers.

一些德國車手，包括BMW車隊的Nick Heidfeld、威廉斯車隊的Nico Rosberg 和 Force India的 Adrian Sutil，都有消息說將取代Kovalainen明年在麥拉倫車隊的位置，Whitmarsh則馬上對這些謠言做出否定，聲明他們並沒有與任何車手有作協商的動作。

“I can confirm that contrary to some of the speculation we are not in discussions with any drivers outside this team at the moment,” he concluded. “In terms of nationality, some nationalities from a marketing perspective are obviously more convenient. But I think McLaren continues to have the strategy and policy that we will get the two best drivers that we can in our cars every season, and that is what we will continue to do.”

"我很確定的是，和一些猜測相反，在這時候我們沒有和車隊外的車手有任何商談"，他結論說。"就國籍而言，一些具有市場潛力的國家出身的車手明顯的更有優勢，但是我想麥拉倫車隊一直都有策略和方針，就是每季都要讓最優秀的車手為我們比賽，而這就是我們會繼續努力的方向"。