Heikki tells Lewis to expect no help

But that does not mean the Finn will be prepared to ride shotgun to Hamilton as the British driver seeks to stay ahead of Ferrari rivals Kimi Raikkonen, the defending champion, and Felipe Massa.

Kovalainen said: "Lewis can be strong enough to win races for himself, certainly I am not planning to help him. If I have a chance to win, I will go for it.

"The desire to win more Grands Prix is 100 per cent. I am still trying to improve my position in the championship and that is also the message from the team."

While Hamilton remains the apple in McLaren's eye, team chiefs Ron Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh have constantly expressed support for Kovalainen, who was snapped up from Renault to replace the disaffected Fernando Alonso at the end of last season.

Kovalainen believes he has flourished at McLaren. He said: "I feel stronger in every area. I feel I am driving better, I'm feeling easier in the car, I'm working well with the engineers and I'm expecting to improve my results."

The internal rivalry at McLaren will be music to the ears of Raikkonen, who trails Hamilton by only five points but is without a win in eight races.

Raikkonen, another Finn, has been off the pace in the battle for grid positions and he admitted that was a principle reason behind his relatively poor results.

"Lately, the races have not been exactly what I've been expecting," he said. "The biggest issue is getting stuck behind other cars after having a bad qualifying. If we can sort that out then we should be fine."

The air disaster in Madrid has put the sport taking place in Valencia, Spain's third largest city, into perspective and Alonso was today set to ask his fellow drivers to observe one minute's silence for the 153 victims.

The Spanish former world champion said: "What happened on Wednesday sours this weekend for me. What happened was a tragedy.

"It's probably the saddest approach to a weekend I've had. Obviously, life continues. But it's now a different weekend for me compared to what it should be.

"As a mark of respect I will wear a black armband, and I will talk with the drivers to see if we can do something. Maybe a one minute's silence in the pit lane."

Hamilton said: "I want to send out my heartfelt thoughts and best wishes to all the families and all the people in Spain.

"It's a tragedy, and I was really sad to hear it happened, because we're in a beautiful country."