by raising the front-wing angle. Now that he also had correctly marked tyres, however, meant that the front-wing was now causing oversteer and making the front of the car heavier. This possibly caused the puncture to his front right tyre on lap 35, forcing him to pit and drop down to 17th, before he finally retired on lap 49 due to a hydraulics problem. Going into the , Kovalainen qualified fifth on the grid, leading many to believe that the McLarens were fuelled heavier than the other frontrunners, having set the pace earlier in the weekend. Kovalainen eventually finished seventh. 2009 At the start of the season McLaren were struggling for pace. Both Kovalainen and Hamilton failed to get into the top ten in qualifying for the first two races. In the , Kovalainen retired due to a collision with Mark Webber in the first corner and in Malaysia he spun off on the first lap while fighting for position with Hamilton and Massa. In China he scored his first points of the season by finishing fifth. McLaren gradually developed the car and results began to improve, with Kovalainen finishing eighth in Germany, fifth in Hungary and his best result of the season, a fourth place at the . This was followed by back-to-back sixth places at Spa and Monza, and seventh in Singapore. He ended the season with 22 points having had five retirements, this left him in 12th position in the championship. On 18 November it was announced that recently crowned world champion Jenson Button had been signed on a multi year deal as Hamilton's teammate leaving Kovalainen without a 2010 F1 drive. Lotus (2010–2011) 2010 It was announced on 14 December 2009, that Kovalainen would drive for Lotus Racing in 2010 along with Jarno Trulli. The team made their debut at the on 14 March 2010. The car was off the pace in pre-season testing, due to a lack of downforce caused by the need for a conservative initial design. Kovalainen finished in fifteenth position in the race, two laps down on winner Fernando Alonso. In Australia, Trulli did not start the race and Kovalainen finished 13th. In Malaysia, Kovalainen retired with 10 laps to go, and followed this up with fourteenth in China, while in Spain Kovalainen failed to start with gearbox problems. He retired in Monaco with steering problems, and in Turkey with hydraulic problems.