Jan.31 (GMM) Heikki Kovalainen has admitted that he knew as much as six months ago that he would not be driving a McLaren in 2010.

The 28-year-old Finn, who was Lewis Hamilton's teammate for the past two seasons, has switched for this year to the new Lotus team, after McLaren signed Jenson Button in mid November to replace him.

"I already knew in August that McLaren was planning for 2010 without me," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

"Up until the end they were leaving the door open, but as a driver you feel where you are heading, and I had the feeling they were looking for someone else," said Kovalainen.

At the end of July, McLaren did not take up its automatic 2010 option on Kovalainen, despite boss Martin Whitmarsh saying as late as October that "there's a very good possibility Heikki will be driving for the team again".

Kovalainen admits that Briton Hamilton was a tough teammate, but baulks at claims he was blown away by the 2008 world champion.

"With Lewis I had one of the strongest teammates you would ever wish for yourself, and everyone knows that I didn't fare so badly against him, if you consider that at McLaren everything is concentrated on him," said the winner of the 2008 Hungarian grand prix.

The Finn also thinks Michael Schumacher knows he will be fully competitive as he makes his return to F1 this year.

"He would have thought about it very hard," said Kovalainen. "I would bet he knows something we don't -- his friend Ross Brawn will have told him everything about the new car and thinks he can fight for the world title."

Latest F1 News - Mobile version

26 Feb: New Ferrari not quickest in field - Domenicali 26 Feb: Red Bull still best in 2013 - Tost 26 Feb: 2014 French grand prix 'possible' - Prost 26 Feb: Danica Patrick 'not interested' in F1 switch 26 Feb: Report - Gilles Simon working on F1 engine for Honda 26 Feb: Gutierrez plays down link to Carlos Slim 26 Feb: Caterham exhaust 'legal' insists van der Garde 26 Feb: McLaren replaces Mercedes-bound Lowe 25 Feb: 'Engine maps' trouble for Red Bull, Lotus - report 25 Feb: Mercedes-bound Lowe to miss 2013 opener - report 25 Feb: Mercedes 'in group of teams' behind Red Bull - Lauda 25 Feb: Gutierrez expects Hulkenberg to beat him early in 2013 25 Feb: New Ferrari 'much better' than 2012 - Massa 25 Feb: Teams 'will adapt' to new tyre situation - Gutierrez 25 Feb: Tight rules make today's F1 cars 'the same' - Forghieri 25 Feb: Williams removes controversial exhaust trick 25 Feb: Contract 'conflicts' cause of Marussia test snub - Razia 25 Feb: Lotus to fight Red Bull for title - Gutierrez 25 Feb: Marussia 'ahead of Caterham' - Chilton 25 Feb: Sutil will not stay in F1 as test driver The latest F1 News - Mobile Version