McLaren CEO reckons Finn had beating of Istanbul master Massa.

McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh has lauded Heikki Kovalainen for the way he bounced back from his high-speed shunt in Barcelona two weeks ago, even if the Finn was unable to produce the result he was hoping for in Turkey.

Despite being left battered and bruised by his impact with the turn nine tyre wall in Spain, Kovalainen passed all the necessary FIA health tests prior to the Istanbul weekend, and immediately showed that there were no lingering after-effects by posting the second fastest time of day one. When he then repeated the feat in qualifying to secure his maiden front row spot, it completed a solid return to action.

"He's an extraordinary chap," Whitmarsh said of the Finn, "I've never known him as disappointed as this, though. He really felt he could win this race - and it eluded him. I've told him that I think he's absolutely right to be disappointed, but that's a by-product of the great job he did to put himself in that position. He deserves to win races this year - and he will."

Kovalainen's race fell apart as early as the first corner where, attempting to fend off countryman Kimi Raikkonen after a poor start, he picked up a left-rear puncture and had to make an unscheduled stop that left the team with few options on strategy, especially as it was also concerned about tyre wear.

"We put a very small splash of fuel in, but we couldn't run long stints with either car because of our tyre concerns," Whitmarsh confirmed, "We were three-stopping with Lewis and didn't have enough margin with Heikki. In that situation, we'd ordinarily have switched to a one-stop with Heikki, but we couldn't do that, as our safe range going into the race was circa 20-21 laps."

Faced with having to battle his way through the pack in order to salvage anything from the race, Kovalainen set about his task with gusto, only for a late stop for fuel and tyres to undo his earlier good work and leave him pointless for the second race running.

"I think both our drivers did a fantastic job but, from a strategic point of view, Heikki was in the strongest position to win this race," Whitmarsh accepted, "I think he would have won had he not banged wheels with Kimi Räikkönen at the start.

"That was just a racing incident, and nobody's fault, but the consequent puncture caused an extra stop. He was due to run longer than Felipe in the first stint and, if he was close to him - which I think he could have been - he would have been able to pass him and the race would have played out differently.

"It's easy to say that in hindsight, but I think Heikki did a fantastic job in qualifying, but was unable to exploit it in the race. The really positive thing is that we come away knowing we could have beaten Ferrari."