Comments on: Soapbox: The big story of 2008 (pt 2)

By: oliver

oliver — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:27:24 +0000

Flavio said Heikki was the future of Renault. Flavio is known for being consistently inconsistent.

By: Green Flag

Green Flag — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:04:31 +0000

It might take HK the first two or three races to settle in, but after that LH will be so far behind his teammate McLaren will need to fit an HDF (Heikki direction finder) to tell Lewis which way the Finn went. And once that starts happening you’ll see LH making far more mistakes than last year. It doesn’t really matter though as both McLarens will need a KDF.

By: KenC

KenC — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:44:14 +0000

As much as I like Heikki, the whole Heikki beat Fisi, so Heikki can beat Lewis, argument is very very weak. It’s the same as saying, Fernando beat Fisi like a drum. Fernando and Lewis were equal. So, Lewis should beat Fisi like a drum. Since Heikki did not beat Fisi like a drum, then Lewis should beat Heikki.See, it’s nonsense, until we see the drivers racing in their cars. Cars and teams suit specific drivers’ styles. Clearly, the McLaren team did not suit Fernando, while Renault did. Some cars suit a drivers’ driving style better.I like Heikki, but coming to some conclusion before the season is just nonsense.

By: B Cave

B Cave — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:21:30 +0000

What I want to know is why people always bang on about the equality status at McLaren (which I believe to be true and was one of the things I was most annoyed about with Alonso last year questioning it) when no-one seems to care that other teams are obviously not equal, i.e. Ferrari and Renault. Kimi is evidently top man at Ferrari and Alonso is the teacher’s pet at Renault, but that seems okay with everyone. But mention that Lewis may be a favourite at McLaren (I’m sure both Lewis and Heikki are well regarded and will be given absolute equal opportunities in 2008) and there is general hullabaloo. I find it strange!

By: Architrion

Architrion — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:06:38 +0000

It’s funny the way you judge Alonso as the typical destroyer when beaten by a team mate, but use a different rule when judging Hamilton. I can remember Monaco, Hungaroring, or Spa, where Hamilton was beaten and started a battle against the team and his team mate.

The only person who has input into the design of the car is de la Rosa. Sure he isn’t the fastest in the pack, but I can’t imagine McLaren Design Department without him in the line up.

By: Steven Roy

Steven Roy — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:18:50 +0000

I seem to have been watch Lewis and Heikki for about ten years now and I have always been impressed by both of them. I think McLaren could have put together a very strong pairing and if they can push each other on then McLaren could reap the benefit.

I always expected that Heikki would make an impact on F1 first, but the total clear out of McLaren drivers in 2006 changed that. I expect the two of them to be very close but since neither of them has the hair-trigger response of Alonso to being beaten by a team mate they may be able to work together.

I have been looking back at a lot of the pre-season predictions from last season on a number of sites over the past couple of days and the one thing it shows that predicting anything in F1 is difficult. There were a lot of people predicting that Alonso would destroy Hamilton and Ron was stupid to put Lewis straight into F1. There were also a lot of people saying that de la Rosa was a far stronger driver than Hamilton.

I think they will be very evenly matched but I expect Lewis to come out on top if only because he had a lot more input into the design of the new car and it should suit his driving style better.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:01:23 +0000

Flavio Briatore started trying to get Alonso back before Melbourne, so one of the 2007 Renault pairing wasn’t going to be there for 2008 because when Flavio decides he wants a driver, he generally gets that driver. However, on this occasion, Alonso wanted a salary that was larger than Renault would clear, so additional sponsors were needed. When the sponsors came, they turned out to be Carlos Slim’s consortium, and he demanded a Latin American driver alongside Alonso as a condition of sponsorship. As a result, Fisi and Kovalainen could have been 1-2 in the championship (either way round) and still Flavio’s regard for Fernando would have prevented either of them keeping their seat.

Still, Kovalainen did a very good job in the second half of 2007, once the car was driveable. As long as McLaren provide a driveable car (and it looks like they will), Kovalainen will be able to do well. I don’t know if it will be enough to beat Hamilton, but it’ll be a good, honourable fight between the two of them.

By: Arnet

Arnet — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:34:35 +0000

Sure, he bested Fisi on points, but we are talking about Lewis Hamilton here. I think Heiki will continue to impress, but Hamilton will continue to improve.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:47:10 +0000

"some might say the very nine points that spelled the end of Giancarlo’s career at Renault."I think Flavio already had his mind made up about his 2008 lineup after (roughly) Melbourne ’07, and he was basically looking for an excuse to fire Fisichella. This, combined with whatever demands Alonso made on his return, and I don’t think either driver would have increased job security if only they’d done better!

By: Rabi

Rabi — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 14:16:22 +0000

Wasn’t Heikki the guy who beat Michael Schumacher in the Race of Champions and eventually winning the event in 2004?

I don’t think Lewis would be able to dominate unless the team doesn’t allow equal sharing of information, which I doubt would be the case.