2010: may kovy stay at mcl?

[ringo]

Heiki at this point in time is a second fiddle driver, in no way is Hamilton restricting his progress. I would actually see his partnership with hamilton as one which forces him to push himself.
He is a good driver and has a win, but i would like to see more support from him in the races. He was not very supportive last year, especially in brazil, it would be nice if he made a Mclaren WCC a reality. But all in all i must say i like what he did in china, he was in the fray and running well against the ferraris. It was nice to see him and Lewis finishing up the last few laps together. Thats the kind of support i want to see. Hamilton didnt even try to pressure him for 1 point either so that's a good indication of the kind of chemistry on the team.
I wouldn't say he out drove Hamilton, but he was clearly having a much better day.

About the pit stops, maybe it could be related to tire wear. A little extra weight is also good in slow speed turns in the rain also. I don't see it as anything relating to lewis.
Heiki is treated well, he does not complain, and i don't think the team is denying him anything.

[ISLAMATRON]

Hamilton could not pressure him he was too busy spinning and dodging Sutil's debris.

Heikki IMO clearly outdrove Lou in China, but I dont see him being held back at the team at all.

[De Jokke]

Heikki is indeed not a wcc "helper". As long as he stays at mcl, they cannot be wcc. It's just such a shame because he is such a nice guy, but too slow unfortunately.

I must say that he isn't pushing lewis either. Lewis was at his best in his first season (vs alonso) because alonso pushed him. Remember when he was scraping the wall in indianapolis just to get that extra performance to clinch pole.

I hope Rosberg or Sutil will join mcl soon or heikki starts challenging lewis...

[ISLAMATRON]

HEikki is easily better than Sutil... HAmilton completely destroyed Sutil when they were on the same team in F3000... Heikki is a former Gp2 champion, Suil hasnt won any of the major lower catagories

[De Jokke]

HEikki is easily better than Sutil... HAmilton completely destroyed Sutil when they were on the same team in F3000... Heikki is a former Gp2 champion, Suil hasnt won any of the major lower catagories

He drove 4th in monaco and 5th in china in a Force India! That is a huge performance. I'm just saying, heikki got the shot, he blew it. Now give it to Sutil or Rosberg. Let's see what they can do.

[ISLAMATRON]

HEikki is easily better than Sutil... HAmilton completely destroyed Sutil when they were on the same team in F3000... Heikki is a former Gp2 champion, Suil hasnt won any of the major lower catagories

He drove 4th in monaco and 5th in china in a Force India! That is a huge performance. I'm just saying, heikki got the shot, he blew it. Now give it to Sutil or Rosberg. Let's see what they can do.

Do you not understand race strategy? Maybe they should give it to Winklehock since he led his first race in a Spyker!

The same reason Sutil was 5th in china was pretty much the same reason he crashed, He stopped really early(lap 19) and was trying to go the last 37 laps on the same set of tires... the tires wore out and the rain got a little heavier and he put it in the wall.

He wasnt 5th based on speed(only the 13th fastest lap of the race), he was 5th because of a good race strategy, he shouldnt be promoted, the engineer who calls his race strategy should be.

[paulonorcatto]

Unless HK racks up a few wins when McLaren get competitive then I can see HK going to Renault (when Alonson goes to Ferrari)

[allstaruk08]

kovy will go back to renault with piquet being dropped and mclaren will have raikkonen back and shui will make a comeback season to get ferrari back on track lol

[donskar]

To the "anti-Kovy" contingent: please remember that many people were screaming for Massa to be fires after last year's British GP . . . Remember how that turned out? Writing off Kovy may be just a little premature.

[safeaschuck]

Yeah Alright, It may be a bit premature, I was almost tempted to wind my neck in after Dave K's infinitely sensible post. I suppose the other thing Mclaren want to avoid is another unnecessary upheaval, Kovy has seen some rough times with them now and has been notable (as far as I can tell) for not sticking his oar in with the press etc. Fair on him, and the Massa comment is dead right. Hmm, wouldn't want Whitmarsh's job right now.
So is the ban on in season testing going to make this decision very much harder to make for all teams? you know, not getting any comparative miles on potential replacement on like for like circuits? Will they resort to putting them in last years cars at demonstration days to evaluate a replacement??? Will it more so be a case of better the devil you know this season compared to last? Not that Kovy's the devil, he ain't that bad, perhaps just unfortunate, but these guys aren't there to underperform, ever. They have had plenty of chance to weed those guys out in the lower formula's, you turn in your best performance every time or why are you there?