Anyone fancy seeing him on the 2010 grid? Where does Heikki go from here? Personally I think he will come off worse for his stint at Mclaren. His only strong point now is that a new team may want to glean any info they can get from how Mclaren operates. I doubt that would be enough of a selling point though. Where will he land when the music stops?

There are still plenty of seats left

He is underrated and definitely deserves a seat next year whether its in Renault, new Toyota/BMW, or one of the new teams

i think he will be at either Renault or Manor.

Hes a really nice guy... but hes been embarrassed by Lewis. Its done him no favours. Anyhow, hope to see him on the grid.

He's not underrated. He got his chance, couldn't live up to it. He's Jarno Trulli calibre at best, which should be enough to give him a car in a mid-/backfield team.

I think that Heikki is really,really fast in Q, but the problem seems to be in race pace.
My quess is Renault then,solid number 2 for Kubica...

Well, Trulli was able to beat Alonso in the same car. Not sure if Heikki can do the same

I reckon he'll end up back at Renault or at the new teams.

Only up to the point he was the first driver, he was able to keep up with Alonso. After that he couldn't get points.

I'm not sure. There are plenty of seats left if all teams that are supposedly in do make it to the grid. But Heikki didnt leave many impressed with him this season, so it will by all means be difficult. Sauber Qadbak may be an option, but it will depend on other moves.

I think we're going to see Kovy in a different light after we see Jense in that seat next year.

Hope it's not too late for Heikki to carry on in F1, but hopefully he's going to get something.

no idea, he doesn't come with sponsorship, and there hasn't been any rumours linking him to the small teams. Looks like team bosses agree he's all pants.

That's a huge slight to Trulli who scores more podiums in a dog of a Toyota than Heikki does in a race/championship winning McLaren.

IMO in terms of talent Heikki doesn't cut the mustard for F1, but next year he is quite a decent option for a new team in that they would be buying his knowledge of McLaren, and not his racing ability.

I still think Jarno Trulli is one of the best drivers in F1 and better than Kovalainen although I rate Heikki as a pretty good driver as well; he would be excellent for one of the new teams.

Yes, Trulli said Flavio/Renault was sabotaging his car to make Alonso look better. You got to admit it was pretty strange how he went from beaten Alonso to suddenly drop down the grid like that, so maybe he was telling the truth

For no OT: Trulli > Heikki.

Heikki comes with inside knowledge of one of the best teams in f1. He knows how things should and shouldn't be done. H is lauded inside McLaren as being a good developer and most importantly IMO he is probably the best reference point any team can get, to genuinely gage how good their car is. With Heikki in the seat, you'll know from the outset over a race distance, that your car has another 0.5- 0.75 seconds per lap in it.

Heikki

I bet he's going to get a pretty good place on the grid for next year.

Such as?

He'll find a seat somewhere.

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?show...ikki+Kovalainen

Well if some of these new teams want someone who rarely wrecks cars and is reasonably consistent in terms of pace, then Heikki should be considered. The last thing a team on a tight budget wants is a car wrecker. He's not a fast driver, we've seen that at McLaren in 2008 and 2009, but he has experience now and that's something that should make him stand out from other rookie candidates.

C'mon he only moved up to Mclaren in his second year. Clearly Lewis adapted quickly to that pressure but he was brought up in Mclaren.
Heikki impressed in Renault but Mclaren was a step too soon. F1 is a hard business but Heikki has potential. He's had to cope with a team built around Lewis, try to fill shoes which were previously Fernando's and then had his head destroyed by being beaten by Lewis.
Not saying Heikki could be in top tier but he certainly deserves a decent team in my view

this business is pretty hard, I fear he will not get another top drive pretty soon. He's been very lucky to have a shot....he blew it.
Maybe he'll have another one. if not, he has only himself to blame

I wouldn't be surprised if he rocked up at Renault

Whether that's in his best interests is another matter - they're not exactly on steady foundations at the moment

i reckon he'll be doing a fairly bit of gardening next year. he never was a top class driver anyway. he won't be missed.

After a solid first season (or rather the latter part thereof) he has had two pretty much disappointing seasons at McLaren. He's value must have decreased a lot, but on the other hand, coming from a top team is an asset. It would be pretty unusual to drop out from F1 directly from McLaren, wouldn't it.

Talentwise I still consider him solid F1 material. He did manage to beat Fisichella (despite wasting the early season), and Fisichella has been on Sutil's level during the recent years.

For the next year it's still looking pretty bad. He hasn't recently been linked to any drive at all. It might be with Renault, or then Sauber. The problem with these new teams seems to be that some of them are looking for 1 driver and 1 "investor" - a category Kovalainen doesn't fall into

Heikki is definetely in F1 next year. Proberly at Renault or Force India.

who cares...

Did he impress in Renault? Early season he was pretty poor, he improved slightly, but impress is a massive overstatement IMO.

I think he will be much better in another formula, Touring cars, Sports cars or joining Kimi in rallying, he is a driver who's entire reputation was built on beating MS in the ROC.

he improved in the second half of the season at Renault and he won more points than GF at that season although there were so much pressure from briatore because of his poor performances.

I think he deserves seat next year

Heikki mystifies me at times. He's such a good qualifier – really, he seems to have one lap speed – but then come race day, he struggles to maintain a fast pace. There's no denying it, he didn't cut it at McLaren, and yet I can't shake the notion that given a car that suits him, he could be quite decent. I see him as a smooth driver in need of a balanced car and I think, somewhat like Jenson (another smooth driver), he might be capable of surprising a few people if he lands in the right drive. Heh, if Mercedes had an established star lined up already, maybe Heikki would have made a good choice for the second seat. He knows some of the key players moving to the team – like Norbert – and I expect he'd have taken well to this year's Brawn. Then again, as I saw mentioned above, it could be that Heikki is in the wrong series. Perhaps that he's made for rally or the tin tops.

Anyway, I hope a team picks him up for next year. By all accounts, he's a fine person, a good teammate and a qualified driver. He brings experience and I'd imagine he's not overly expensive. I'd love to see him find his race pace and collect a few more wins. He's a hard guy to cheer against – everyone seems to like Heikki.

I agree the part it´s him to blame; Macca-move was too yearly in his career. But still, man has been in top team for some years and finished second in GP2 after Nico. Clearly he belongs to grid. And the people in business might know it..?

Isn't that the problem? or rather a sympton of his problem.

@Anomnader
In that no one fears Heikki as a tough competitor or teammate? If so, then yes, I think it is somewhat a problem for him. I'm afraid he may have already set himself up to be seen as a potential #2 and nothing more, if he's even noticed at all.

According to James Allen, there are some team principals out there who believe that Heikki is a lot better than he's shown at McLaren. He's named Renault as a team that is very fond of him, and as I recall, he also said Frank Williams thinks highly of him.

Heikki is a very good driver. He's very quick over a single lap. He's also a very good wet weather driver. If he gets in a situation in which he's supported well and he builds his confidence, I think he can still have a good F1 career. The trouble is that in F1, there's always a very quick driver who's younger than you and ready to take your place if you don't deliver promptly when given the chance.

If it doesn't work out in F1, I think he should go to rallying. He's got outstanding car control, and I think he would be a very good rally driver.

It's a nice statement, but these team principles don't seem to be falling over themselves to hire him. I can see him getting a seat next year, but just like when he joined Mac, he won't be someones first choice.

He can open a Fish and Chip shop in Grimsby...