Heikki quicker than Hamilton?
I know its only testing and doesnt mean much but heikki was comfortably ahead of Hamilton is the last two test sessions. Also Hamilton spun off twice. He seems to be struggling with the car since the removal of driving aids a bit. I really hope heikki puts him in his place this year and i think he will to be honest. Hamilton was in the best car last year but they were so easy to drive with all the aids it was almost impossible to make big mistakes.
If hamilton is beaten i think it will also show how average a driver Alonso really is and that it was his car that won him his 2 world titles...Anyone agree?
Val...most people in F1 thought that was a publicity stunt by Renault to run a light car to have him fastest. It was a 2007 car against mainly 2008 ones after all so i doubt he would have been able to set that time without a very light car.
Kovalainen might be one of the best new drivers out there, possibly better than Hamilton, although I dont really think Lewis will give up easily. Hamilton's pace is a bit tricky, If you look back at last season, he seems to spin a lot in practice sessions, and he even seems to be slow too but then bam! he goes to qualifying and gets pole position. But I think Kovy is going to give him some headaches.
About Alonso, well, since 2003 I remember it was clear to me that he was no average driver. He just stood out, you could tell he was a future title holder.
Heck, I remember when nobody knew his name, to me he was just that spanish guy who took a Minardi to 11th at suzuka. That was humanly impossible in a normal race without major incidents. Minardi was like a Spyker minus the Ferrari engine or even worse, and the European V10 engine was horrible on a straight line, the pickup was terrible and the top speed was ridiculous.
I do think however that in McLaren his performances were not as good as those that he gave in Renault. When he was in Renault, he would be consistent to the milliseconds, a human clock, the mechanics couldnt believe it. I really think something happened in McLaren, either he lost focus -which I doubt because if you look at the circuits in which he beat Hamilton, they are all "driver's" circuits- or McLaren failed to adapt the setups to his driving style. Or they did it on purpose.. at least at the end of the season. I have to admit that ever since McLaren's public apology I no longer believe a word that comes out of Dennis's mouth. During half of the season I was tricked into thinking that only Alonso and de la Rosa knew about the spying and all that time they were just escape goats, taking all the blame while the engineers knowingly designed a car full of ferrari concepts. And Dennis pretended not to know.
