At what point does Heikki Kovalainen lose his seat at Mclaren ?

Question

He's not really shown all year that he can compete against Lewis in the exact same car, Sure at some points during the season so far Mclaren have used him to test things out for Lewis but that is only because hes not getting himself into contention for the lead / pole.

If he doesnt win a race this year do you think he will lose his drive at Mclaren next year ?

If so, Who do you think they might replace him with ?

Or will he get another year to prove himself ?

Maybe Alonso to Ferrari and one of the Ferrari drivers to Mclaren, Their is speculation that Alonso is going to Ferrari so,

What do you think ?

Answer 1

Heikki is a good driver, he just needs luck on his side. If he doesn't shine soon thought i think that he might return to Renalt. This meaning Alonso going to BMW sauber and kubica or Heidfeld moving to Mclaren.

Ferrari have got both their drivers contracted until 2009 (Raikkonen) and 2010 (Massa). So i don't think a change of driver will happen for Ferrari at the end of this season.

If he gets another year, i think he will do better due to knowing the car better.

Who knows though??? Whats your opinion?

Answer 2

Hekki is hard to cast a clear opinion on.

On one hand he can be fast, like at Japan last year or at Malaysia he dominated Lewis.

I think he is a brilliant number 2 driver like Barrichello used to be for Ferrari, fast, solid but not causing friction between the other driver.

He does seem to struggle to keep consistency though and should be scoring more often but he has had some cruel luck.

Too early to tell about next year for me.

Answer 3

Why isn't Pedro racing on Race Day? Why does he sit out all the time? If you guys look back at the way Pedro has raced, esp. after JPM took leave, that particular season was amazing for him. He deserves to race mainstream

Answer 4

I think Heikki is the ideal parter for Lewis. He's good enough to add to the overall points for the team but not enough to pose a real threat to him which is how Ron Dennis really wants to run it anyway.

Answer 5

I think he'll still be there next year. He's had some bad luck but I don't expect it to go on forever. But there again, he's a Finn, perhaps he's got Kimi's bad luck instead of Mika's winning formula. Personally I like Heikki and hope his luck changes and he stays. I don't think Alonso will be driving for Ferrari

Answer 6

I think Heikki needs a bit of luck. He's been doing Ok so far. At times the team strategy isn't quite right and sometimes things happen, ruining his strategy. He hasn't been very outstanding so far and I hope taht will change.

I think he'll still be at McLaren next year. His performance isn't as dismal as say, Piquet Jr. They ought to give him another shot. The thing with F1 is things move really quickly and if you can't deliver the goods now, it's the end of the road. He's quite a good driver IMHO and I really hope he'll still be there in 2009.

As for Alonso going to Ferrari, Montezemolo has said that Alonso will neeer drive for them. So there's really no need to bring this up again. Popular choice for the Ferrari seat now is Kubica and that is a better choice I think