Kovalainen passed fit to race in Turkey

By Alan Baldwin

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen thanked his lucky stars and paid tribute to Formula One's safety standards on Thursday after being passed fit to race at the Turkish Grand Prix following his big crash in Spain.

The Finn was knocked out and taken to hospital suffering from concussion after ploughing into the tyre wall in the Spanish Grand Prix on April 27.

The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said they had given the 26-year-old the all-clear for Sunday's fifth round of the season after a mandatory medical at the Istanbul Park circuit.

Kovalainen told a news conference he still had no recollection of the accident at the Circuit de Catalunya, although he had seen it on television.

"It was a serious accident and I managed to walk away," he said. "I think I was a little bit lucky but I must stress that all the safety standards that the FIA has been pushing worked very well.

"I think it (safety) is something that we must still keep working on, but the work paid off that day."

Kovalainen's car penetrated the barrier in Barcelona after spearing off the circuit at around 240kph when his front left tyre deflated.

The car hit the tyre wall at about 130kph, with the driver experiencing a deceleration equivalent to 27g, or 27 times his body weight. The team confirmed on Thursday that the accident had been caused by a wheel rim failure.