"I have a slight headache and a stiff neck, but apart from that I am feeling well and in good spirits," the Finnish driver said in a statement after the heaviest crash of his Formula One career.
"My focus is on getting better as soon as possible so I can pass the FIA medical inspection required to allow me to race in Turkey.
"I don't remember anything from the accident or what happened afterwards."
Heikki Kovalainen |
"I don't remember anything from the accident or what happened afterwards."
Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren chief executive, said the 27g deceleration was greater than the force experienced on ejecting from a military fighter jet.
The accident could have had far more serious consequences, with the car completely written off after penetrating into the tyre barrier.
"The front of the chassis broke off," said Whitmarsh.
"The chassis is wedge-shaped and we imagine it went into the barriers until the point at which it snapped."
'Very lucky boy'
McLaren said scans at the hospital had confirmed the driver suffered no head injuries or broken bones. The 26-year-old will stay in Spain for a few days relaxing before returning home and resuming light training.
"Heikki was briefly unconscious [in the crash] but he was lucid soon after the accident and I'm told he was actually quite jolly, which is fairly typical," said Whitmarsh.
Jackie Stewart, triple world champion, told Britain's Sun newspaper that it was a miracle Kovalainen had survived.
"Heikki is a very lucky boy," Stewart said.
"If that had happened in my day, he wouldn't have had a hope in hell of walking away from it.
"For Heikki to come out of that accident shows just how much we have come on in terms of safety."
The Turkish grand prix, fifth round of the season, is in Istanbul on May 11 and Kovalainen will have to satisfy the International Automobile Federation (FIA) that he is fit to compete.