Heikki is not very happy....possibly

So, there you go.

 

Heikki needs to take a hard look in the mirror before letting this type of speech out. For him to be in a top 2 car and be in 7 place for the WDC speaks loads about his driving this year. He's behind Heidi, Alonso, and Kubica. He needs to defeat them before he can consider himself number 1 or team leader at McLaren...

 

But your theory above entirely ignores skill. You can't presume that Hamilton is incapable of matching Alonso and could only have done so with help. Also, Hamilton may have been a rookie in F1, but he was a very well seasoned veteran driver who knew the ropes, had driven on most of the tracks, and had been racing wheel-to-wheel all his life. You can't take the skill aspect out and say "it's not possible he could match Alonso without help". We have seen that Hamilton is very skilled, probably the equal of Alonso in speed and such, so it's no surprise he was able to beat Alonso last year.

Also, regarding the fuel issue, McLaren explained that they would switch off - so one week Hamilton got to get the better fuel strategy and the next week Alonso got it.

Hamilton has made mistakes, and so has Alonso (falling victim to the red mist and racing another car out of the pits... crashing into and turning around Heidfeld, etc). I think it's also probably easier to make less mistakes when you have no hope at all of winning a WDC, and in many ways are rooting for your team to do badly (so you get a contract option triggered that lets you leave the team if you want to).

 

I can't feel sorry for Heikki under these circumstances. He should have known the deal before joining the team. His only options are to stop complaining and step his game up and win races, or try to get a job at Honda or Toyota and flounder for a few points here and there, at best.

 

I think Heikki was just part of the swap deal with Alonso going to Renault. McLaren would never have picked him on his own merrit. Not beating Vettel at Monza hasn't done him any favours either.

 

lets look at it this way....

last year, Heikki was really impressive in a really crap Renault, and ended up trashing his much much more experienced teammate in a crap handling car.

now, he moves to Mclaren, having possibly the best car on the grid this season, but how come suddenly, he's performance is total crap compared to last season? if he can do wonders in a crap Renault, imagine what he can do in Team Hamilton...err.. i mean Mclaren

honestly, it's clear he's a no 2. and given his age, he should walk away from that sorta team and start fresh...Honda for example.

 

+1.

 

I still think Heikki looks like one of the Lolly Pop kids on the Wizard of Oz.

 

What wonders are you referring to? He was terrible in the beginning of the year, and didn't start to match Fisi until mid season. He had one great race where he finished 2nd at Fuji, but Fisi finished 4th, so it's not like Heikki smoked Fisi. Beating Fisichella is a far cry from beating Lewis.

 

7th in the running for WDC not 3rd not 4th not even 5th but 7th. In the MP4-23 behind both BMW's and the Renault of Alonso. Even if he started heavier than Hamilton in every race this year should be no lower than 4th but 7th. McLaren need too lose Heikki and fast before he cost them another WCC! I mean 7th...

 

And last season did the master of car set up, Alonso, set the McLarens up to suit his own or Hamilton's style? Presumably his own, which makes Hamilton's performance even better than it appeared to be!

The fact of the matter is there is no single set up for any car, each driver has his own engineer and between them they can set their car up to suit that driver (within the limitations of the car's overall design). If HK's car was not set up to suit him he and his engineer are at fault, it wasn't a conspiracy by McLaren to keep HK behind LH.

 

Good point.

 

HK seems decent, but I think he falls on the overrated side of the fence. Ditto the sentiments that if you want #1 treatment, go out and earn it. Nothing is handed to you in the big-boy leagues. Don't complain--change starts with the driver. You don't often hear RD whining about his #2 driver not getting the results they hoped for.

 

Not quite, Hamilton himself said he and Fernando have a similar style. If a car set up for Alonso suited him as well that would greatly explain why he was so quick from the start. Like I said before, Hamilton looked impressive as hell last year but his lead in the points was due to consistency, especially at the start of the year. This was not the case this year, and frankly with Alonso at Renault, less comp because of McLaren not letting HK race Hamilton and Kimi being out to lunch all year, this year championship was less competitive than last year. I was more impressed by Hamilton last year, this year he looked like a rookie at times.

 

Luis, I think Hamilton was more impressive last year, except for the wet races this year. Good article about the Drivers ratings on Planet F1, where Massa was the driver who stepped up his game mostly. However, I too feel that Hekki is overrated and McLaren would be better off with someone who could have been closer in the championship than Hekki was, considering the car he had. I still think that Nico Rosberg would be a better fit at McLaren.

 

Ah yes, however Luis, but he won it this year, and by more than 1 POINT in my book..and I'm sure yours as well..

 

Heikki should STFU and go back into his turtle shell....

He's no Alonso and should be happy to be a 2 on a winning team. Maybe he and Rubens should go have themselves a 2-man pity party!

 

A championship is a championship, there's no taking it away from him. But the truth remains, he was more consistent last year.