FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[mattF1]

Helsingin Sanomat
October 17, 2008
Shanghai

"Lewis is an aggressive and an uncompromising driver, whose reactions can be fierce. And at times they have been excessive," says Kovalainen.

"I've had to dodge his moves myself a couple of times, and I've made it clear to him that I won't be doing that indefinitely. If nothing changes, we're bound to have a collision between us at some point."


For next season, Kovalainen is also calling out for a different attitude towards him from his team.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that, barring one instance (British GP), I've had a heavier fuel load than Lewis in qualifying."

"If you want to have a shot at the championship, you have to qualify in the front row. Even after a good qualifying performance, I'm starting in 4th, 5th or 6th. That doesn't help your race at all."

http://www.hs.fi/urheilu/artikkeli/Kovalainen+Lewis+on+aggressiivinen+kuljettaja/1135240321753
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This is the first time I've heard Heikki challenging Lewis. Usually he's been defending him from criticism.

[EwanM]

No s*** Heikki

It is weird he's come out with that though.

[McLaren Fan]

Kovalainen has a point about Hamilton being aggressive. Although not as bad as it first looked, Hamilton suddenly swerving to the right was still not exactly the ideal way of driving and treating your team mate. Kovalainen can say all he wants about the strategy, indeed, the reason he carries a lap or two more fuel than Hamilton is because he looks after his tyres slightly better, so can have a little extra weight in his car. Why doesn't Kovalainen try to explain why his race pace is anything from two or three to five or six tenths of a second slower than Kovalainen or why he was not able to alter his driving style as quickly as Hamilton was to get the MP4-23 to use its tyres better? Kovalainen can say whatever he wants for all I give a toss. He's nice a guy and all that, but he's dramatically underperformed this season, and his pathetic display in qualifying today attests to that. If I were de la Rosa, I'd be mighty pissed off right now. What's it going to take for this guy to get the gig over Kovalainen. de la Rosa is no Senna, but he's a solid enough performer and could do no worse than Kovalainen. Thanks for pissing away McLaren's constructors' title hopes Kovi!

[bmwpower]

Thanks for pissing away McLaren's constructors' title hopes Kovi!

Classic move Turn it around and the accuser becomes the accused "I saw LH slashed her throat last night and I have it on videotape", "Well its your fault and not LH, you should have put the videocamera down and stop the girl from running into the knife LH was holding"

[McLaren Fan]

Thanks for pissing away McLaren's constructors' title hopes Kovi!

Classic move Turn it around and the accuser becomes the accused "I saw LH slashed her throat last night and I have it on videotape", "Well its your fault and not LH, you should have put the videocamera down and stop the girl from running into the knife LW was holding"

It's the truth, so deal with it.

[mattF1]

He's nice a guy and all that, but he's dramatically underperformed this season, and his pathetic display in qualifying today attests to that.

There's more to the story than looking at qualifying times. He was doing good in Q1 and Q2, and even in his first attempt in Q3. Then something happened.

I heard him comment live on Finnish tv, that the car was feeling very good up untill his final attempt in Q3. Then he pitted for his last set of tyres, and suddenly the car changed dramatically. He didn't make a mistake in his lap, suddenly the car/tyres just weren't performing good enough. In the past he has admitted if he has made mistakes in qualifying (like in Singapore), so there's no reason to doubt him.

Here's his official comments:

"Q1 and Q2 went very well for me and I started Q3 feeling optimistic. But, unfortunately, on my last run, my tyres didn't seem to deliver the grip levels I'd expected. It's a pity, because I was hopeful I could get a better grid position than P5."

We've heard comments from drivers before, that there can be dramatic differences in the quality of the tyre sets.

[Rorschach]

Good for Heikki. Become aggressive yourself and stand your ground. You might need to move on to another team if you want to be the natural #1 driver. Whether that's fair or not, who knows. Nowt wrong with a driver being aggressive. I would think he'll put that on the back burner for the next two races though - or he can kiss the chance of getting an equal footing with LH at McClaren at the start of next season goodbye.

[Gaz]

Kovalainen has a point about Hamilton being aggressive. Although not as bad as it first looked, Hamilton suddenly swerving to the right was still not exactly the ideal way of driving and treating your team mate. Kovalainen can say all he wants about the strategy, indeed, the reason he carries a lap or two more fuel than Hamilton is because he looks after his tyres slightly better, so can have a little extra weight in his car. Why doesn't Kovalainen try to explain why his race pace is anything from two or three to five or six tenths of a second slower than Kovalainen or why he was not able to alter his driving style as quickly as Hamilton was to get the MP4-23 to use its tyres better? Kovalainen can say whatever he wants for all I give a toss. He's nice a guy and all that, but he's dramatically underperformed this season, and his pathetic display in qualifying today attests to that. If I were de la Rosa, I'd be mighty pissed off right now. What's it going to take for this guy to get the gig over Kovalainen. de la Rosa is no Senna, but he's a solid enough performer and could do no worse than Kovalainen. Thanks for pissing away McLaren's constructors' title hopes Kovi!

Yeh he can spout on about Lewis not being aggressive but if we saw a little less nice guy form him and abit more aggression.

I don't know why he would come out and say stuff like that to be fair not exactly going to help Lewis is it.

And your right, if we don't see any improvement next year (to be fair i expect we will) i think its time to give Pedro Dela Rosa or Gary Parfett a go

Don't know if you've seen Garry's win record from DTM its very good, i think he deserves a chance.

[cap-dude]

GO Kovy. He's done what many others haven't whilst at McLaren, spoken out. (as far as I know anyways =P )
But Kovy is right, the team is giving him too much fuel. I mean, what is that all about. They've ditched their own constructors hopes with that one.
Also, when was the last time Kovy made a proper mistake. He's done the best job he could at most times. But so much bad luck, on top of stupid quali fuel loads, has put him behind. Next year, hopefully he'll give Lewis the run for his money that we know Kovy can. But right now, Kovy is lacking confidence, so he needs to find some first of all.

[Gaz]

GO Kovy. He's done what many others haven't whilst at McLaren, spoken out. (as far as I know anyways =P )
But Kovy is right, the team is giving him too much fuel. I mean, what is that all about. They've ditched their own constructors hopes with that one.
Also, when was the last time Kovy made a proper mistake. He's done the best job he could at most times. But so much bad luck, on top of stupid quali fuel loads, has put him behind. Next year, hopefully he'll give Lewis the run for his money that we know Kovy can. But right now, Kovy is lacking confidence, so he needs to find some first of all.

He shouldn't be giving crap to his team mate when he's under enough pressure.

Kovi has been unlucky this season but he's also under performed but i hope your right i'd like to see them both fighting for the WDC next year and winning the WCC for Mclaren.

[TheOak]

I'm gona try some of that conspiracy stuff. What if Mclaren have deliberately handicapped his racing with bad quali tactics and rubbish tyres just enough to keep him behind Lewis, cause they didn't want to risk another season of tough rivalry between teammates like happened with Alonso, but still enabled him to score points for the constructors title?

[McLaren Fan]

GO Kovy. He's done what many others haven't whilst at McLaren, spoken out. (as far as I know anyways =P )
But Kovy is right, the team is giving him too much fuel. I mean, what is that all about. They've ditched their own constructors hopes with that one.
Also, when was the last time Kovy made a proper mistake. He's done the best job he could at most times. But so much bad luck, on top of stupid quali fuel loads, has put him behind. Next year, hopefully he'll give Lewis the run for his money that we know Kovy can. But right now, Kovy is lacking confidence, so he needs to find some first of all.

Have you been taking drugs? Kovalainen has got nobody to blame but himself for his weak performances. He's been unlucky a couple of times, fair enough, but so what. It's not as thought that's the reason he's not fighting for the title. His race pace has been inept, despite the efforts of everybody back in Woking to sort it out.

[Hanwombat]

Thats my boy, I knew a good spank would do the trick

We need this aggression for 2009, Kovi take no s***!

Yes Heikki hasn't had a great season, and yes it may cost us the Constructors, Mclaren seemed a lot stronger last year with Fernando alongside, I could almost grasp the Constructors, until it was taken away. But remember this is only his second year too, as is Lewis's. Some show their talent quicker than others, Heikki has the potential, he just needs to rock the boat more.

[EwanM]

Thats my boy, I knew a good spank would do the trick

We need this aggression for 2009, Kovi take no s***!

Over ur knee eh? :S

[lcplcombat]

They can't refuel both cars at the same time so one of them has more fuel than the other. The team obviously favours Hamilton, but so what? At the start of the season he was the best chance to win the championship of the two of them and they went with that.