Heikki Kovalainen says he can see himself staying at Caterham for the long term despite persistent reported interest from bigger teams.
Finn says there "are a lot of things that I value very highly" at Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen reckons he will have no reason to leave Caterham should the team continue to make consistent progress into this season and beyond.
The Finn has successfully rebuilt his reputation and confidence during his first two seasons at the Norfolk-based outfit after a difficult two-year spell alongside Lewis Hamilton at McLaren when he struggled to consistently deliver the car's full potential.
After regularly outperforming the highly-regarded Jarno Trulli in 2010-2011, speculation has suggested that Kovalainen could be lured away by a bigger team again in future - but the 30-year-old insists he values highly what he has at Caterham.
Speaking to the team's
Caterham Notes e-zine, he said: "I really don't look at all that stuff. My focus is wholly with Caterham F1 at the moment, and if we keep progressing as we have done over the past two years, and into this third year, then I can very well see myself carrying on a lot longer here.
"There are a lot of things that I value very highly at Caterham. I've managed to be here since the beginning. I've gotten to know everyone very well. I have a very good position with the team and it's working very well. So, these are all questions that, if you go to another team, would have to be answered again. If you go to another team, you have to build all that again. So it's not as simple as just going from one place to another."
Caterham are targeting their first points finish this season and Kovalainen is optimistic that a step forward on track with the new CT01 is within reach.
"Obviously we need to set some targets for this season and the car looks better than ever before. The team is just functioning better and better all the time, so I'm very happy here," he said.
"The ultimate target is to have better results, and we'll see after the season starts where we stand. In any case, all is set better than ever before in this team to have a successful season and to make a step forward. So the only focus is now to move forward with the team and obviously increase my own performances from last year. That's why I'm still here and still behind the project."
After a problematic second test with the CT01 at Barcelona last week, Caterham are hoping for a more straightforward final test over the next four days at the Circuit de Catalunya - although on the opening morning they were forced into a driver switch after Kovalainen was taken ill overnight.
