Heikki Kovalainen!!!

Wohoo great guy definetly deserves it! Looking forward to '08

Woohoo, but, Source?

EDIT: Yep, THIS kinda settles it i suppose

This will probably be very good for McLaren and Kovalainen.

well i kinda knew it before this was announced but yeah great driver hope he scores better in 08 season than he did with reno

he seems to have a good attitude, not up his own ass type of guy, hell i like him alot more than alonso so lets see how it turns out. He has the skills, finished in every GP apart from the last one.

Quote from TAYLOR-MANIA :

I'm intrigued to know why you think he 'defiantly deserves it'?
I'd say drivers such as Button, Trulli, Webber, Fisichella, hell even Sato or Davidson deserve that cockpit more.
Heikki did have a good drive @ Fuji Japan, but other than that...? Maybe something has slipped my mind.
Anyway, lets see what he can do in March.

Don't make me laugh. The only one from that list, who even remotely would deserve the McLaren job, is Button. The others are just rubbish. I'm not gonna specify why, the reasons are so obvious.

And why it should be Kovalainen? For the last half of the season Heikki was considerably better than Fisico. Sure the first half of the season was awful, but I would blame Renault instead of Heikki. After all, he had tested the winning 2006 car so much, several hundred thousand kilometers, but in 2007 he just suddenly forgot how to drive? Why can't I believe that?

In the toughest races, Fuji and Nürburgring, he did very well. Better than Fisi, better than a whole bunch of other, more experienced drivers. Since the races were held in extreme conditions, you have to give them extra value. If you wan't a concrete example, try to remember "the Nürburgring carpark". Thre were a lot of drivers who lost control in t1 (on lap 2-3 or was it 4?), Rosberg, Liuzzi, Speed, Button, and even Hamilton, while others could keep their heads cool. It's always the special conditions that show the real talent.

Quote from TAYLOR-MANIA :

But that's my point. It is a team sport ultimately, and if they don't have a top team & car then they will struggle for the race wins.
Put Button, Trulli or Webber in the McLaren and they'd be title contenders. They've struggled in their [disadvantaged] teams for quite some time now, and I like how they don't complain about it either.

Yeah, F1 is a team sport (and I can't understand why some people won't understand that), but my point was that you still need the best driver to drive the best car. Of course it's a matter of opinion, and I agree that ANY driver in F1 (..well almost) could win races in the best car, but still... For some reason neither Trulli or Webber haven't really impressed me that much. I'm sure they are fine drivers, but I wouldn't hire either one.

Quote :

Aah yes, the German GP, almost forgot that!
Yeah he did show us talent then for sure, but it's almost easier for the drivers in the lower teams to do so.
Although on that basis [the EuroGP results], Vettal & Coulthard could've been options for McLaren too. Still, I really don't think that's a concrete reason for his McLaren drive. But obviously McLaren know better than I do...
So I fully expect Heikki to be winning races, stepping on the podium frequently and a strong world title competitor.

Edit: Actually, I made a very similar post here

No, no, no! I ment that that was only one example. Every team in F1 know exactly what every driver has ever done. When you put all the results of a racing driver into context, you see the big picture. Heikki Kovalainen has been fantastic for his whole career and that's the reason why McLaren hired him.

When I mentioned the European GP, I didn't mean that Kovalainen's result was very good. I ment that he has one of the most important abilities there is: He kept his head cold. Why do you think Kimi is called "the iceman". Being able to do your job without (too many) mistakes something the team expects.