In case you recently failed to notice, McLaren also fields two cars:



Couldn't help but thinking that he now even fails, when he tries to slot in behind Lewis. Some like to compare Lewis to AS, but the only thing both have in common seem to be team-mates which produce no threat at all. Had expected more from Heikki, Vettel could be a logical choice for Mercedes next season.

Really? since when?

Prove it.

McLaren has nothing to complain about, he's about as bad as last year, just a slower car. They knew this when they re-signed him.

He certinly is not a race winner(got lucky in Hungry 08), and i doubt he ever will be.

I always thought Alain posed a decent threat to AS.

Vettel vs Hamilton would definitely be entertaining (if Mclaren manage to get him out of Red Bull)

I'd say Heikki's actually improved his performance, because Hamilton no longer seems to have a huge advantage over him.

Australia
FP1 - Heikki faster by 1.6s
FP2 - Heikki faster by 0.01s
FP3 - Heikki faster by 0.1s
Q1 - Heikki faster by 0.3s (Lewis only did a single run)

Malaysia
FP1 - Lewis faster by 1.8s (Heikki only did 7 laps)
FP2 - Heikki faster by 0.1s
FP3 - Lewis faster by 0.1s
Q1 - Heikki faster by 0.2s
Q2 - Lewis faster by 0.02s

check your avatar..

Bad to worse??

I think you better take a closer look at those times.

Now add in race laps to your chart.

Kovalainen is like Webber: Can qualify well but really does struggle in races.

Except webber is never a second a half a second slower than his team mate in the race, just slower than the cars around him but still in front of his team mate.

HK is probably the most over rated driver in 10 years, he actually looks OK this year and I expect he will improve but he was hired to be a number 2 and fills that role middlingly well.

I don't think Heikki is overrated at all. He never set the world on fire at Renault either.

I think Kovalainen is very quick, his one lap pace is superb, almost on par with Lewis I'd say. It's the races where he truly fades away, he has trouble with tire management and his general race craft is poor.

Talking about Heikki's race pace seems a bit silly this year, since he hasn't completed a lap yet. It's really a shame for him because he seems to be on even terms with Lewis with this year's car so far. Then again, better to DNF when the car is crap than later in the year when they should have a shot at podiums at the very least.

Well I'm going by last year where Lewis was usually the one who lapped consistently faster in races.

look at the bright side, at least he's only 1point behind lewis after 2 races

Will do once he finishes a race, for now you have 9 sessions to draw any conclusions from
-----
And all this talk of Heikki being s**** in the races is based on last year's results, which were heavily discussed in this thread. No point in throwing up random generalisations from 2008, as tkulla said.

Anyway I was glad to find that McLaren were, for once, equal when fueling their two drivers in Malaysia. Heikki was still a little heavier (0.9kg) but they're making progress

The same comments were being thrown at him in 2007 as well.

For the first third or so of last year, it looked like Heikki was on (or very close to) even terms as Hamilton, just the luck was holding him back. Then the bad luck stopped and the proper racing (rather than just analysing times from sessions) started, and it became clear he was a ways behind. Hockenheim being the best example.

I find it a bit ironic that you mention Vettel as a replacement, 'cause he too has spun off/crashed in both races.....

Kovalainen certainly wasn't too impressive last year, but one should probably be a bit lenient when we're talking the first year in a new team. Well atleast for the first part of the season. Actually he made a good impression early in '08, when the McLaren wasn't as competitive as it became a little into the season.
I still think he's a good driver, but he has to start delivering starting in China.
He has the pace, Symonds said there wasn't anything between him and Alonso during testing in '05/'06, and quite often he backed up that claim by putting a similar gap between himself and Fisichella as Alonso had.

I'd quite like to see Liuzzi alongside Hamilton at McLaren, but he's as far off the McLaren-mould as you can get...

I don't think it's fair to put all the blame on him for Australia. In Malaysia he made a huge mistake, but he's been quick (relative to Lewis) in practice and qualifying. According to Heikki, the tyre wear problem has been sorted out so I think he should be ok in the remaining races once he manages to complete the first lap. Last year Massa had two DNFs of his own making at this point of the season so it's possible to have a good season after a miserable start.

He's fairly comfortably matched his World Champion teammate on lap times, was nerfed out of one race and made a mistake in the other race this year: once again you're being more than a little harsh.

Just one. In Australia both Ferrari drivers had engine failures.

Domenicalli: "Stefano Domenicali: "This has definitely been a very difficult start to the season and we have got off on the wrong foot. However, we should not react in an over emotional way to this. We weren't a phenomenon before and we're not carthorses now. We have to work out exactly what happened to the engines on both F2008s and they are being sent immediately to Maranello for analysis"

Which is why i said he looke da littl ebetter. he wa smiserable last year though and the 'over rated' tag refers to his time at Renault when everyone was glowing and he didn't do all that much.

You're all so harsh, Heikki is clearly outstanding in his field.

The one he parked in at Malaysia admittedly, but all the same...

So how does that make him the most overrated driver in 10 years? Compared to his teammate (or even Nico Rosberg, for example) he's massively underrated: we're talking about a race winning F1 driver, after all.

I think 9 of them have won races and he hardly won that race with his great driving, it fell in his lap. Rosberg has driven a mid field car all his career, Heikki had the fastest car at hgis disposal last year in around half the races and never so much as looked like grabbing the race by the throat and driving to victory by out pacing his team mate and/or the other two blokes in fast cars.

Of the current grid I'd have him in my car ahead of Fisi, Sutil, Piquet, Bourdais and Nakajima, I can't think of anyone else that i would ditch for him.

I have no hopes for kova. He is a good guy with no racecraft, just mediocre. Last year even where he had a chance to win like monza, he was completely useless. The faster they fire the guy the better. I would take Sutil instead of him.

Sutil can be very good, but a pointer is how they've performed relative to Fisichella, so going by that, Kovalainen cannot be replaced by Sutil.

Kovalainen? The guy who is at Hamilton level in quali?

I get your point...but for the harmony of the team, you dont want another Alonso-Hamilton rivalry. I think in racecraft, sutil is better than Kova, but i dont think he would challenge Hamilton or Alonso. That is why i would pair him With a top driver like Alonso or Hamilton.

It's called Trulli Syndrome, TS.

Fair point, certainly carries some merit, but so far Kovalainen hasn't been much of threat to Hamilton, so....

(I've thought about how things would've been at McLaren - and for Hamilton - if they'd gotten Rosberg on board...)

Comparing practice times is pointless, teams are using practice sessions as test sessions this year.
In qualifying they have been very close.
In terms of race pace we are yet to see whether Heikki is closer to Lewis than last year.

I think it is fair to say that he does have to improve appreciably compared to last year. McLaren isn't Renault and they need two drivers capable of scoring podiums/winning races.

Who is/could be available that represents an improvement though?

Kubica? (off-hand, can't see this)
Vettel?
Massa?

The point is you still need a driver who can bring some points or at least support the top driver. Going by last year and this year so far, Kova is more of a passenger than a driver. Make no mistake about it...i like Kova as a guy who you can go for a drink with more than Hamilton, but as a driver, i would fire him at the first opportunity.

No, No and maybe.

The first two are clear number one drivers who will not allow Hamilton to relax.

Umm, it was Kovalainen who crashed into Barrichello, who crashed into Webber, who crashed into Kovalainen and ended his race...

I am not convinced HK hit anyone in that melee, I really don't have a clue TBH.

actually Hamilton's biggest strength is his race pace so if Heikki can only just barely match him in his weaker area (1 quick lap) then it doesn't bode too well for him.
If Mclaren as a whole have a bad season they will probably make some changes and HK will be one of the first to go.
I hope they can trade him to Williams for Rosberg if they are looking for a new driver.

Will Hamiklton want Rosberg though? He's too much of a threat. You need a Coulthard or a Heidfeld in there. Heidfeld is ideal, reliable fast but not fast enough to be a pain in the arse.

It might be 3rd time lucky for Heikki next time round and he gets at least one race lap under his belt for 2009.

Look at replays. Clear as day if you focus on Barrichello and the certain McLaren that ploughed into the back of him.

Hamilton and Rosberg are very good friends and also next year there wont be refueling ( ) so there wont really be a #1 driver and a #2 driver in terms of strategy.

Give the lad a break......................

I posted this in another thread, but it fits better here:



Let's look at his career:

early 07 - poor, erratic start but understandable as it was his debut in F1

late 07 - beats Fisi (no other rookie had ever done it), sometimes with a good pace margin, comparable to Alonso's, just not as consistent

early 08 - great qualy pace, on par with Hamilton or better fuel-corrected, slightly slower in the races, hindered by a massive amount of bad luck and a huge shunt

late 08 - thumped by Lewis in the races, IMO clearly lacking confidence

early 09 - on par with Lewis in qualy, but with 2 first lap shunts

I don't know, he's not looking world class but hardly shit neither. I consider Hamilton to be of the absolutely highest caliber in the F1 field, so obviously it's difficult for him to shine. I feel his lack of performance is comprehensible given the circumstances, and he's better than he seems.

yea i agree

massa has proven he allows kimi a biiig relax

Yep, Kovi is one of the F1 deadbeats, ie.......

Kovi
Massa
Fizi
The Buttocks
Heidfield

You make your own luck, so Kovalainen certainly has part in his very absence of luck.
My belief is that while Kovalainen is a fast enough driver, maybe he's not fitted with the mental power needed to be a designated second driver, and that very thing has tainted his confidence in his own ability which in turn has decreased his performance and made him do small errors. And small errors are all it takes in F1 to be out at a race start. for example.

Talk about Kovalainen being a horrendous driver is nonsense in my view. He just can't perform under the conditions he's in and the more mistakes he's doing the more likely he'll be to make more mistakes.

I hope he pull two good races together, that might brake the jinx and he'll shine, not as Hamilton which is un-likely, but shine as in putting down solid drives.