Comments on: Humble Heikki Blames Himself For British Grand Prix Blunder

By: Vi84

Vi84 — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:08:45 +0000

I think (as Norbert Haug said in Silverstone) that Heikki was psicologically hit when Lewis passed him on the straight.

By: Stew

Stew — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:44:00 +0000

Unfortunately blaming something that can’t take blame is professional sports. It is great to hear his honesty, but too much admitting of mistakes could ruin his career.

By: links for 2008-07-08 » vee8 - a Formula 1 blog

links for 2008-07-08 » vee8 - a Formula 1 blog — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:30:48 +0000

[...] Humble Heikki Blames Himself For British Grand Prix Blunder – BlogF1 “Heikki could have spouted out some PR-friendly/no-one-is-to-blame answer and scurried away. But instead he chose to be honest and hold his hand up.” (tags: HeikkiKovalainen tyres BritishGrandPrix) [...]

By: Caleb

Caleb — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:11:09 +0000

I hope characters like Heikki will start showing up more and more in the sport as I’m pretty sure as much as sponsors may rule F1, it’s the human aspect that attracts the general fan. The problem with Formula One these days is many of the drivers are groomed to be a top star at a very early age. The days of a guy like Nigel Mansel selling half of his belongings to afford to race later on in his life are gone. Drivers are now picked up in their early teen years and groomed by major teams (McLaren/Hamilton being the perfect example). This usually results in young men already trained to deal with sponsors, keep their answers to questions very PC, and lack the personality of previous decades of greats.

As far as Heikki improving, I think people need to remember this is his first year at a new team. Just like Alonso last year, he is not going to be comfortable with the car right away. Does anyone else remember how bad Kimi Raikkonen looked at Ferrari during the first half of last year? He ended up getting used to the various new tendencies of his new car and turned everything around to win the world title. Obviously it’s a stretch to say this will happen for Heikki, but considering his teammate has been a project of McLaren for years, he’s gotta be cut a bit of slack by comparison.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:56:57 +0000

It was very good of Heikki to admit his flaws. Hope that self-analytical style pays off in the second half of this season.

By: zerogee

zerogee — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:39:22 +0000

I find myself being more impressed with Heikki Kovalainen. (I just love that last name, wonderful phonic).

He seems like a terrific bloke with great talent that I think McLaren will unlock. He’s got that sportsmanlike, gentlemanlike approach that I’ve favoured over the years: Damon, DC, that sort of thing.

As you say, Ollie, it’s unusual and nice to see. Perhaps the Age of the Gentleman is returning after the decade of robotic Schumacher-ism…

By: Oliver White

Oliver White — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:26:22 +0000

Obrigado para o elogio.
Thanks for the compliment, Becken.

I´m still waiting for Heikky´s improvement through the season

I too am waiting for Heikki to show the pace he had pre-2007. I thought he was starting to find his feet again towards the end of 2007 when he came back and eventually knocked Fisichella off his chair, but perhaps changing teams didn’t help his momentum.

By: Becken

Becken — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:17:59 +0000

Oliver,

Great article and again very insightful!

I think this is a very important matter at this moment. Both driver works on a different polar of driving style and this explain why Lewis was damaged his front tyres in Turkey and how Heikky could manager the situation in a better way. But the difference is that Lewis faced a problem and his answer was in a different level than Heikky tomorrow.

As a Mclaren fan I´m still waiting for Heikky´s improvement through the season, mainly in race pace, and I know that this kind of honesty is a great way of how to find a solution for his problem with the rear tyres.