Retired double world champion Mika Hakkinen has backed his countryman amid claims Heikki Kovalainen might lose the McLaren race Seat at the end of the season.

While teammate Lewis Hamilton races into the lead of the drivers' world championship, 26-year-old Kovalainen, a Finn, has dropped 30 points behind and is notably struggling to match the race pace of the sister car.

But after Kovalainen charitably moved over for his teammate at Hockenheim last weekend, Hakkinen - the last driver to secure a title for McLaren - praised the "great harmony" that has descended on the team since its latest race lineup was brought together in 2008.

"He has been working really well with the engineers and with Lewis, and the harmony is now great, and that's a very important point," Hakkinen told PA Sport.

Source: GMM