"I don't know where the small gap to the cars in front comes from," says Finn.

McLaren-Mercedes number two Heikki Kovalainen has conceded that he was a 'little disappointed' with his best effort in the top-ten shootout for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix.

Kovalainen was unable to match his team-mate, Lewis Hamilton and the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen and subsequently finished proceedings fourth on the grid.

Despite ending up around two to three tenths off Hamilton in the sister MP4-23 and almost fourth tenths off the pole, he wasn't too displeased though as he had a brush with the barriers in the final practice session this morning and damaged the rear end of his car.

Speaking following qualifying for the sixth round in the 2008 FIA F1 World Championship, he paid tribute to his mechanics who repaired his car after that incident in the Swimming Pool section.

"I am little disappointed as I put maximum effort in my last qualifying run. The car felt good, so I don't know where the small gap to the cars in front comes from," he pondered. "I did not put a foot wrong in all three sessions.

"I want to thank my team who had repaired the damage from this morning's incident well, so I could make best use of my car without any problems."

As for the race on Sunday, Heikki believes he can do well at the Principality and get a strong result.

"The race is a different affair to qualifying, and I expect us to be in good shape," he added.

Mercedes-Benz boss Norbert Haug meanwhile agrees that Heikki - and Lewis - will be real contenders.

"Lewis is third, half a tenth of a second away from pole. However, with Heikki lining up alongside him on the second row, both drivers still should be in a position to fight for victory tomorrow," he summed-up.