Heikki Kovalainen was not worried about stepping into the absent Kimi Raikkonen’s shoes – or his underwear for that matter – at the United States Grand Prix on Saturday.

Lotus’s Finnish stand-in, replacing Raikkonen at short notice after the 2007 world champion pulled out of the last two races to have back surgery, qualified an impressive eighth for his first race since 2012.

“I’ve done everything I can to step into his shoes for this weekend and I’ve even worn his fireproof underwear. I hope it was washed,” Kovalainen told the team website.

It was the first time since he click here for more