Heikki vs. Lewis

[Sawtooth-spike]

Mclaren is right now in a very bad shape ,hope hekkie made the right call by choosing Mclaren .

Yeah they had the Joint best car last year, and had 2 guys who could of won the WC. Sounds like bad shape to me?

I think Hekki will suit Mclaren, he seems cool headed and clinical. Alonso is a Hot head, A very talented Hot head, and it was never going to wash with Ron.

Lewis V Heikki, I give Round 1 2 3 4 5 to Lewis, but i think by mid season Heikki will be pushing Lewis hard

[mahesh248]

I Dint mean bad shape in terms of Perfromance , I hope you could use your imagination to figure out whats has made mclaren in shape that they are right now in.

[mini696]

Lewis will beat Heikki cause he has McM N1 car

How about... Poll biased!!

[Belatti]

Lewis will beat Heikki cause he has McM N1 car

How about... Poll biased!!

Not biased my friend, just heard all through 2007 that Lewis was Rons baby and that he would give him all preferences, so just added that option in the poll.
whats wrong with that?

Even JPM told in an interview that when he found out that Alonso was going to team-up with LH in 2007 he thought: "Oh my God! Poor Alonso, he is lost!!!"

[mini696]

Oh I agree that Ron certainly favours Lewis, not to the extent that the Spanish media make it look like. It looks that way mostly because Lewis seems to need constant encouragement to make him feel like he is doing good.

I say the poll is biased because that option should not have had a presumption that Lewis will be No.1

[Belatti]

What certainly amazes me is the low faith reigning in the air about Lewis speed!

[icef1mkd]

I think McLaren dosen't hide at all that they want to win with their
Lewis. I don't know how can we expect that Heikki will do there better
than Alonso did.

Here's what James Allen says about this:

..."Hamilton.....is sitting there in the perfect position with a
competitive but non-threatening team-mate in Heikki Kovalainen"...

I know the guy is Hamilton-biased, but I smell logic here....

[Roland Ehnström]

I like both these drivers, they are two of my absolute favorites in the F1 lineup. Both are immensly talanted, and to me they both seem like very nice chaps overall, and will definately get along very well. I think they will form a formiddable team in the next few years.

In testing at Valencia Heikki did a qual simulation while I am pretty sure that Lewis did not, which explains why Heikki "outpaced" Lewis. No way is Lewis a full second slower suddenly. McLaren possibly wanted to give Heikki a chance to shine, not least to improve his confidence. As for traction control, remember that Lewis won GP2 in awesome style without traction control as late as 2006. Heikki almost did the same in 2005, only lost out to Nico Rosberg in the last couple of races. Running with or without traction control will not be an issue for either men, they are far too skilled to be bothered by such details. In fact I don't think any driver on the F1 grid will gain or loose any speed because of the TC ban. The cars will be more interesting to watch (and listen to), however, so I am very positive about the TC ban!

In 2008 I expect Lewis to be a little stronger than Heikki overall, simply because Heikki is new in the team. The championship battle will probably stand between Lewis and Kimi, with Heikki and Felipe also in the running in the first half of the season, until they start to help their team-mates.

In 2009, with one year of McLaren experience, I think Heikki might have a chance to challenge Lewis fair and square, as deep down I think they are equally good. Lewis is a faster learner, and does better in trafic, while Heikki seems to be VERY strong in the long runs, which, if any, is Lewis' weakness.

[icef1mkd]

With such a committed long-lasting bond between Lewis and McLaren,
a relationship which reminds of Schumacher&Ferrari,
I'm finding it difficult to believe McLaren won't be biased and will
be strictly professional towards Hamilton's title campaign.

I guess this alleged McLaren policy works better in a lower midfield team.
Here, we have a title contender team, so Kovalainen will need to be
a bit impertinent, a bit an egoist to impose himself...at least as an equal.

I believe he'll have to set himself in the right frame of mind:
"I'm was Scandinavian Champ in kart, I was the Finnish Diver of the Year,
I was the Nissan WS Champ and GP2 runner up, I beat
Schumacher and Loeb, the former said I have something special.
So now, let's beat Lewis and everyone else when I have this great car"

Otherwise, a "Irvine/Barrichello" scenario seems likely about Kovalainen and
he'll prove he's really good, but not extra class.

[Roland Ehnström]

I don't really agree. Alonso left McLaren because he couldn't accept the fact that a rookie was treated as an equal to him. As double world champion, Fernando expected to be the clear number one driver, like he was at Renault, and like Schumi was at Ferrari. McLaren however refused to give him special status, world champion or not. Fernando couldn't accept this, and their relationship went sour.

This to me suggests that McLaren will also give Heikki equal treatment as Lewis, no matter how big a star Lewis will become. Indeed Lewis is very popular with Ron Dennis and the whole team, but from what I have learned about Heikki, he will also be loved by everyone at McLaren. To me, McLaren have a superb driver lineup with Lewis and Heikki, and a true chance to really prove that they can provide TWO great drivers with a great car each.

Hmm, I hope I'm not coming across as a McLaren fan here. In fact I'm not rooting for any team in perticular, it's mostly business anyway. I do like Lewis and Heikki, though, and I hope they will do well in the coming season. I would be very happy if Lewis became champion, because I think he deserved it already in 2007. And McLaren deserve a championship after coming SO close in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

I actually used to like Fernando too, mostly because he made F1 interesting again after a few dull years of Schumacher-Ferrari domination, but in 2007 all that changed. To me it seems like Fernando's success has gone straight to his head. He's not getting any sympathies from me anymore, that's for sure, and I hope he will be outperformed by Nelsinho in 2008 - now that would be fun to watch! =D>

[icef1mkd]

I appreciate your comment Roland, we're making this
discussion very constructive.

Sounds really harmonious, loving, ego-free, wonderful,
idealistic in one word. But, there's one title there to win.
i wonder is it possible with that approach?

Yes, last year McLaren gave equal treatment to a rookie along
with the double champ, but he was not just an ordinary,
random rookie.

And, as I recall, DC was loved there too, but still after
AUS 98 we all know the story. The only explanation left is that
DC wasn't as good as Mika or Kimi later.

Hope Kovalainen will successfully defend the
"Finnish McLaren driver" reputation.

[Roland Ehnström]

Yes, perhaps a little bit too idealistic to really work in F1. For sure it didn't work in 2007 - had Fernando been given the clear number one status, I am sure that he would have been world champion for McLaren. Instead, Ferrari snatched the championship from McLaren in the last race. But I still think that McLaren did the right thing, though perhaps in the wrong way, because I really really really dislike egoistic behaviour - especially from proven champions. Fernando should have shown more maturity, and the fact that he didn't, cost him a third championship.

Lewis wasn't a random rookie, you're right, but neither is Heikki... And like you say, the fact that he is Finnish could well be a help for him. But Heikki seems to be a lot more outspoken than Kimi and Mika - he seems friendly and interested, while especially Kimi makes a cold and uninterested appearance.

As for the Häkkinen/Coulthard relationship, you have a point there. After finally leaving McLaren after 13 seasons, Coulthard have even spoken about not being given equal treatment, so there is probably some truth there. However, I think it's also true that David simply was never as fast as his Finnish team-mates.

[DaveKillens]

Until the green flag drops in Australia, we haven't been able to witness direct comparisons between Heikki and Lewis. But we can compare Hamilton versus Alonso, Alonso vs. Fisi, and Heikki versus Fisi. Alonso was able to beat Fisi on a regular basis, although every so often Fisi would suddenly find something extra, and win. And once Heikki got over his early-season anxieties and learning curve, he too was able to easily be superior to Fisi.
So what strengths and weaknesse do Heikki and Lewis posess? Heikki needed almost a half-season before he got over whatever was bothering him, and got down to wringing the neck of his Renault. And once he gets going, he displays great strengths. lewis, although a great driver in the making, still cannot maintain pace all race, and on occasion he has been known to be unable to charge near the end.
I do not expect a repeat of the McLaren drivers' fiasco where Hamilton and Alonso spent so much energy and attention on beating each other, to the point they beat themselves. Both Hamilton and Kovalainen signed their contracts with McLaren after the end of the season, so I'm quite sure that in each contract there are clauses detailing their position within the organization and how to deal with their opposite number.
Right now I give Hamilton the upper hand because of his familiarity with the team, and his ability to get going from the very start. Despite getting testing time, Heikki may go through what he experienced last year, building up enough laps and track time to the point he can seriously compete with his peers.

[ben_watkins]

I hope that Hamilton can concetrate on his racing and testing, as the sponsor commitments made a negative impact, in my opinion, on his race weekends last season. Specific example was the lack of track time and setup time for Hamilton at Silverstone, due to him doing a karting sponsor event.

Had he been there for the Silverstone test, he may well have made the extra point or two needed to clinch the WDC [even accounting for the way the team lost him fistfulls of points in China by leaving him out too long on shreaded tyres].

[Lewisfan007]

I know this has been talked about before but what are your views on who will come out on top at the end of the season?

Kovalainen seems to be out performing him in testing and in my opinion with no TC Kovalainen will be the faster driver. He some how seems to have better natural car control.

I am sorry but I don't believe the time in spain, I waiting for the reasonable country of Australia =D> and then the rest of the world then we will see the true time. GP2 F3 didn't use TC either, Lewis was doing well bad in testing last year 07, and look what he in his rookie year. When McLaren was testing the car without the spain clock Lewis was beating Kovalainen constantly

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/tests.php?startat=20

When it's was McLaren doing the timing Lewis out performed him as I said before I don't trust or believe the spanish time for a second.

[More ranting...]

As for blaming everything on Lewis, why isn't Ferriari coming forward to sign Alonso? He is a F1 team nightmare it's only the spanish that think he the second coming and of cause Papa Flavio who Alonso really hates Flavio.