Rivals Ferrari have won the last four races to move into the lead in both the drivers' and the constructors' championships.
But McLaren have had a good pre-Monaco test at Paul Ricard, and Kovalainen feels their form is now stronger.
The Finn, who has not scored any points in the last two races, is looking to escape trouble this time out.
"I want to have a trouble free race and to be able to show the pace we have in the car," said Kovalainen in a team preview. "It felt really good all weekend in Turkey and we had a good test on the Monaco-simulation track at Paul Ricard.
"We have certainly improved and hopefully we can capitalise on that at Monaco. Of all the races, Monaco is the most unpredictable Grand Prix, as always I want to be challenging for the win, but with this race who can say."
McLaren are in third place in the standings, 21 points behind Ferrari, while Lewis Hamilton is seven behind Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers' championship.
Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug admitted the team are not concerned by the situation.
"Not at all. McLaren have been closer to the leader on the challenging circuits of Barcelona and Istanbul than before in Malaysia and Bahrain," said Haug.
"Lewis is seven points behind, Heikki 21. Last year at a later time of the season Kimi Raikkonen had a greater gap to the top than our drivers now. The team has to improve further, and then everything is possible."
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