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#79845
From autosport.com:

By Jonathan Noble and Glenn Freeman Saturday, November 8th 2008, 15:57 GMT

Heikki Kovalainen says he is ready to step up his game and become a much stronger challenger to Lewis Hamilton next season, after admitting he was not happy with how his first year with McLaren went.

The Finn started off the 2008 campaign with some impressive performances - especially in qualifying - but his form slipped away in the second half of the year as McLaren's own challenge became stronger.

And despite taking his maiden victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, he confesses that things were far from ideal. However, he thinks he knows what he has to do to up his pace next season.

"I'm clearly not happy, certainly not with the results," Heikki said at the Mercedes-Benz Stars & Cars event in Stuttgart on Saturday. "I think the fact is I didn't make any big mistakes this year, but the season was quite difficult.

“We didn't finish all the races, there were also some things happening with me, and with my car technical issues that prevented us from a few results. But I think I'm much better prepared now for next year, and I'm looking forward to starting work for next year. Hopefully we can finish more races, without any problems, and get some better results."

It is understood that Kovalainen will have to improve his performances in 2009 if he to retain his seat beyond the end of the season - with McLaren and Mercedes already believed to be weighing up other options including Robert Kubica.

However, Kovalainen sees no reason why he cannot improve enough to become a thorn in the side of Hamilton.

When asked if this year had prepared him enough to be able to compete with his world championship teammate, Kovalainen said: “Yes, I think so.

“Even this year, the potential was there to get much better results. In terms of ultimate pace, there's never been a problem.

“If you look at some of the qualifying sessions this year, if you really measure the speed, it's quite positive. So I think we just need to keep working on the details. So to answer your question, yeah, I think I can do a much better season next year.

“We don't know at the moment how it is going to go, and what kind of package we are going to have. But, thinking ahead, and suspecting that we're going to have a good car, then I will do the maximum to be in a position to have a better season.”

And he insisted there was no issue of Hamilton being granted automatic number one status at the team because of his title success.

“I think it is quite clear that we have the same chances,” explained Kovalainen.
#79859
i realy hope he does step up if not for his sake but for maclaren's sake. even if he only ends up in the long run supporting lewis at leaste it will give maclaren half a chance at the wcc as well as lewis's wc
#79865
He is capable of doing it but Lewis is the number one driver there no matter what Ron Dennis says to the press

Another Coulthard-Hakkinen esque situation...

Indeed, how true. A driver tries to pass the buck for his own failings.
#79868
I think that he may have improved a little bit next year but I din't think he will ever be as fast as Hamilton.


The raw speed is all there, as is evidenced by his qualifying performances. But for whatever reason he doesn't seem to have been able to pull that across to Sunday afternoon.
#79899
I'll believe it when i see it Heikki :hehe:


That's exactly what I was thinking. He had a few good races but in general he's pretty good at disappointing me. I probably wouldn't have laughed a whole lot harder if it had been Fisichella talking about a serious championship run for 2009.
#79900
You can see it in Kovi's attitude/mentality that he does not push himself or the car to their limit's which Lewis does. I dont know about anyone else but when I watch a race I tend to pickup/see small inconsistency's over a lap from one driver to the next. Wow I could have saved myself from typing that last sentence by just saying "how many time's do we see Lewis crossed up compared to Kovi"?

Safe zone = Kovi = points.
On the limit = Lewis = WDC's.
#79902
If I was Kovi I would be looking for a future in F1 with a better team. If Kovi always has to start with a heavy car that is eating tires then how in the world would he ever be able to compete with anyone??
This year proved many times how important quali is and unfortunently Mclaren never gave both drivers an equal opportunity there. I kinda hope Mclaren will hire someone else so that Kovi can look for a better seat where he gets the same chance that his teammate gets
#79903
You can see it in Kovi's attitude/mentality that he does not push himself or the car to their limit's which Lewis does. I dont know about anyone else but when I watch a race I tend to pickup/see small inconsistency's over a lap from one driver to the next. Wow I could have saved myself from typing that last sentence by just saying "how many time's do we see Lewis crossed up compared to Kovi"?

Safe zone = Kovi = points.
On the limit = Lewis = WDC's.


This is true but Lewis is also more consistent he can push himself and catch it and find the limit.

Loot at LH in practice he does go off alot i think this is because he's finding the limit once he has it he can consistently hit it.

Hekki might be as fast (i don't think he's faster Fuel corrected even) as Lewis but its a flash in the pan he can't seam to do it over race distance.

Another thing is he seams to give up too easy when trying for an overtake example, role reverse hekki and Lewis at Monza Hekki would of stayed around that position perhaps taken 1 or 2 cars Lewis would of had vettle and won it by some distance.

i think we'll see some improvement but i doubt he'll be fighting LH for the title if the MP4-24 is competitive.
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