Defending 'Undeserving' Kovalainen

Tuesday 5th August 2008

Readers have reacted to PF1's opinion that Heikki Kovalainen was an undeserving winner in Hungary while others reckon the only reason he got a new McLaren deal is because he's willing to play second fiddle...

Send us your views to: letters@planet-f1.com

Defending 'Undeserving' Heikki
You guys just can't help yourself can you? After a unbelievably patient and smart maiden victory for Heikki, all you have to say is "underserved" and move on to how Lewis saved his season by grabbing an extra slot or two after the tire blowout.

McLaren may or may not really have team orders (they do), Ferrari may or may not have issues this year, Massa may or may not be that unlucky, Heikki may or may not be deserving (he is), but Planet F1 has become so biased towards one team and one driver, I'm afraid I have to remove it from my 4 homepages that pop up on starting the web browser. Too bad, there's the occasional journalistic brilliance, but more and more less frequent. The only saving grace for us Non Brits, lifespan in F1 is short for drivers. All we have to do is hold out a few years and we'll be rid of the Hamilton fad.

Congratulation Heikki! Very much "DESERVED"! Congrats to Timo, he was in position to take advantage of the inevitable drama of F1. Congrats Kimi, who thought podium for Kimi? We know PF1's position.

Regardless of the headlines from parts of the WEB (hmmm, wonder who), the championship is another fun season of back and forth and nobody has anything won yet. Valencia next, this is going to be fun.

I know, I know, my letter will end up in the garbage, I've dared to question PF1.
Bill Grogan, USA

...How is Heikki's win undeserved? Yes, Massa's engine blew but Heikki drove a clean, consistent race without making any major errors.

I for one am very happy for the Finn because it forces horrendously biased websites like your own to acknowledge that for once your golden boy Hamilton didn't come through (NO SURPRISE).

Besides, now that Heikki has his confidence up hopefully he will stick it to Hamilton since HAMILTON does NOT DESERVE any of the attention he gets.
Krystian Niepsuj

...How dare you put Kovalainen's first win as undeserved. OK he was lucky but he still had to drive well enough to put himself in a position to take advantage of Massa's unlucky puncture and as you know luck always plays its part you just have to be there to use it. I feel very sorry for Massa but do not put down Kovalainen's first win.
Rod Sutton, Cornwall, England

...I am a McLaren fan from Turkey and I have been watching your absurd comments about McLaren and Heikki lately.

After Hungary race I read your headline saying Massa deserved and Heikki landed to an undeserved maiden F1 win. It is not a nice idea; as F1 journalists you should look past races closely.

Heikki missed possibilities to score podium finishes due to his bad luck. Your site still rated him as losers and it is a clear indication that your editors are huge Ferrari fans. It is really disgusting that some media sources like you showing F1 fans that McLaren are losers and cheaters and lucky guys.

You are not going to win in courts in this time.
Kutay Dogan

What A Pleasant Surprise
To all F1 fans like myself who thought we were in for a boring and already settled race, Hungary turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise!

From Felipe's stunning overtaking move on Hamilton in Turn One, to Lewis' tyre puncture, and finally Felipe's engine giving up on him. In my opinion it was an action packed race, compared to what Budapest usually has to offer.

I have to say, being a huge Kimi fan, that his 3rd place felt like a win to me, after failing to score a podium finish for so many races. Though I strongly believe Ferrari still have issues to solve, and Kimi needs to sort out his qualy problems. In my view he should, at least once, try a lighter fuel strategy for qualifying and see how it goes, because it's pretty clear that the heavier fuel strategy is not working anymore, it hasn't been working for quite a few races now. If he indeed chose to go lighter, he could manage a better grid position if not pole, and then he could set even faster lap times before making his first pit stop; just a suggestion.

And McLaren were nowhere near as fast as we all thought and Kimi could have done better if he hadn't been stuck behind Alonso for so many laps (again, this proves how important the qualy is).

So all in all, I enjoyed the race far more than I thought I would, I believed Hammie would win from pole to flag, but again the surprising world of F1 proved me wrong.

Big congrats to Heikki and Timo for their deserved podiums (yes, even if Heikki had a little help from Lady Luck).
Soledad, Montevideo, Uruguay

Massa Could Still Win It
Massa drove a sterling race at Hungary.

If the Brazilian drives each of the remaining race, with same intent he showed at Hungary, I have no doubt he has it in him to take the fight to Lewis.

It was really disappointing to see all his hard work go into smoke.

What makes him stand out of all the front-runners, is that this bloke keep his trap shut and go about racing. And unlike his self-focused team-mate, the guy is Human. Compare Massa at the post race conference welcoming countryman Piquet to victory lane versus Kimi lost in his own world in post race conference at Hungary.

Hope the affable Brazilian goes all the way this season !!!
Mahesh, USA

Ferrari's Reliability Could Cost Them The Title
I can't believe that it happening!!! This is not the first time that the Scuderia made some stupid thing to complicate its drivers!!!

Massa made the impossible, besides overtook Kovalainen, he overtook Hamilton outside on the first corn. If he had a competent engine, he would win the race... unfortunately, it wasn't happened.

If Ferrari doesn't stop to make mistakes, no drivers neither Scuderia will win the title. Massa proves to every body his is competent and he can to every thing to win.

All you (Italian people) will say that Massa didn't need to force at all his car, and some of you will say that he didn't overtook Hamilton his engine would be good. In fact when the engine blows that is not drivers fault, the team is the real responsible of that.

And one more thing: If Raikkonen was an excellent driver, he would be very ahead in the championship, he just won last year because McLaren made some stupid things in the end of the season.
Bruno Dutra

...The Ferrari team faced an almost impossible task - to revive their season they had to win Hungary. Problem was that McLaren scored a 1-2 in qualifying and the Hungaroring isn't the best race for Ferrari.

Massa drove like someone driving to keep his job. He pipped Lewis into the first corner and never looked like giving the lead back to Hamilton. Massa proved all of his critics wrong by wringing the neck of his Ferrari and keeping out of trouble. Even after Lewis' puncture Massa kept pushing - but this could've been a mistake. On lap 67 Massa's car decided to call it a day, and a massive engine failure saw the young Brazilian standing on the side of the pit straight.

The team shouldn't feel too disappointed with the performance. Massa showed us that he could become champion (maybe not this year but very soon). He also showed that the Ferrari can beat McLaren at it's own game.

The biggest headache for the team is the lackluster performance of the Finn. Kimi seems to have an absolute inability to pass Alonso. With clearly the faster car Kimi closed gaps between himself and Fernando almost countless times yet couldn't commit to actually pass the Spaniard. After passing Alonso (via a pit stop!) Kimi suddenly woke up and made fastest lap after fastest lap until the team told him to turn the engine down. Pity with 10 laps to go Kimi might have done something....... maybe not.

Congratulations to Heikki for taking his first win. He drove conservatively (set on a solid third it seems) but was gifted a win. As the old cliché goes, it's the position that matters, not how you got it.

Congratulations also to Toyota. Another great race for the Japanese outfit. Timo must be ecstatic about his first podium and the chance to talk to the press about something other than crashing.

Hamilton proved himself to be one of the luckiest drivers in F1. He picked up a puncture a couple of laps before his scheduled second stop and made it to the pit without beaching the car or picking up damage. Then his rival for the race (who seemed set to take the championship lead) retired with a blown engine. Lucky.

Ferrari go into the summer break with a lot to think about. The potential win lost to mechanical failure was a setback, but the improved pace and invigorated Massa will give the Scuderia something to smile about.

Happy to say, Forza Ferrari!
Chris van Wyk, South Africa

There Is No Equality At McLaren
Dear Ron,

Please stop blowing marketing Ron-Speak sunshine up our butts. You do not treat your drivers equally. I take on your challenge of "talk to any driver who has driven for McLaren, and you will not find anyone - save for one - who will not verify that this team always runs on the basis of equality, and always will."

Alonso is not the only one. Montoya has stated a number of times that McLaren have preferences. We've seen preference with David and Mika. We've seen it with Kimi.

Alonso has hit it right on the nail. He knows what Heikki is there for, and you know he is "slower" than Lewis. You don't have to delegate, because with Heikki things work themselves out. As long as he is slower than Lewis he will continue to drive for McLaren. For the next 6-8 years McLaren is built around Lewis. Everyone knows that. How then can you convince us that you are willing to undermine his #1 status by giving another driver an equal shot at winning?

Lewis is the #1 driver. Lewis is the Team. Remember, you paid to develop Lewis too. Would you really undermine your own investment? We're not idiots. Your repeated statements that say otherwise only irritate and insult us (fans).
Sebastian T

As For The McLaren/Alonso War
Dennis said that there is only one driver in McLaren's history to say about Alonso said. What about Coulthard, Kimi, Montoya, Alain Prost and even Senna? ALL of them were frustrated because team wasn't fair. Yes, Montoya was fired but can speak from inside too. And Senna was renovating race to race.

Also Dennis said about Kovalainen in UK that if Kova saw his team-mate was faster than him (0,6-1 sec per lap) he must let his team-mate overtake him...

Well Dennis, what happened last year in Indianapolis? Alonso was faster (0,6 sec) than Hamilton. What happened then?
Marcos

No Wonder Heikki Was Re-Signed
Nice move by McLaren. Re-sign the driver that is willing to play second fiddle and not complain about it... plus McLaren got the blessing of Hamilton so they should be counting their lucky stars.

Kovalainen moved over and let Hamilton through in Germany and then the very next race his contract is renewed. The move over was a display of his willingness to forgo his own career goals for the team's #1 driver.

McLaren deny Heikki is in a supporting role... but this is the same team that denied holding onto Ferrari secrets and we know how that turned out.
Mike, Canada

...Heikki''s deal for 2009 was "signed" the second he let Hamilton past at Hockenheim, it is no coincidence that it was just after Ron Dennis was on the radio to him, no doubt telling him that his contract was ready to sign provided he assisted Lewis in the race.

Can you imagine Alonso letting Hamilton by so easily at Hockenheim, you bet your life he wouldn't have without some kind of fight.

Heikki has shown a lack of consistent pace this season bar Silverstone, perhaps underlining how slow Fisichella really has become when Heikki beat him last season at Renault.

This season is perhaps showing that rather than a fast Heikki in 2007 we just had a slow Fisichella.

Hamilton is the faster of the 2 undoubtedly and McLaren have obviously decided it is far easier to focus on Hamilton and have an obedient number 2. It worked for Ferrari with Michael and Rubens and seems to be working far better this season with McLaren having a clear 1 and 2, if not in public then certainly in the garage, there is no doubt that Heikki knows his place, which given Hamilton's thrashing of him for most of the season, is a quite distant 2nd.
Divesh Nair, Johannesburg

Post to del.icio.us

E-mail Article Print-Friendly Version Subscribe to Letters RSS Feed