OutKast wrote:
funkymonkey wrote:
I said it last year as well and I will say it again. Heikki didnt do enough to go back to top team.
There was lot of talk about how great he is doing with Caterham and he deserves to go back to top team. And people here in this forum were up in arms when I brought up McLaren performance, but that is one big nasty unwashable blotch on his career. I like Heikki, but he was gunned down by drivers which were driving way way way slower machinery than him regardless of the updates 2 years in a row. That McLaren was not slow enough to end up where he did those 2 years in a row. There was zero doubt in my mind that he will not get top drive this year for sure and I said so. His best chance was with Caterham or likes of Sauber or Force India neither of whom were ever interested in him.
And to expect or even feel that he deserved one more chance in top team is unrealistic. Specially give that nothing special was done at caterham by him. Sure car was not fast enough for all 3 years. But there was no standout performance except one in Monaco which is easiest place to defend you place.
I am not happy to see him go, but this is not something that is unexpected. It was on the wall, and with that situation, his management and himself needed to handle things differently or be ready to be out of the sport like he is now. There was no other alternative. To survive in this sport today, you need exceptional talent, or load of cash. He was not exceptionally talented, nor was he ready or able to bring money with him. And he is out. Nothing unfair about it.
Those two points in bold pretty much express how I feel about the situation for him.
Consider his teammate his first two years as well because Jarno was pretty much done after the solid season he had in 2009. He never really did anything that made me go bonkers for him to get another seat somewhere else. Monaco did not do anything for me either, but it was still a darn good performance though.
2008 and worst yet 2009 pretty much set his future. Sadly, but it has happened to so many to whom we liked in the past. All that talk about him going to Sauber or Ferrari or what not. It was not going to happen in the first place.
Also, I still think the performances this season just fell off after the first half of the seaon. Petrov put the nail in the coffin for Kova's career, unless something miraculous happens within the next couple of weeks we do not know about. He was supposed to beat him, but he did not. It was just not the last five races of the season. The whole second half of the season... Well his performace in qualifying at Belgium was a solid attempt, but thats about it though.
I agree with the posts above.
Kovalainen threw away his chance at McLaren. Hamilton was given preferential treatment because he was that far ahead of Kovalainen already. And worse, Kovalainen's body language never even suggested that he was worried when that was happening, like it was ok for him to be beaten and treated inferiorly. Alonso the year before couldn't even accept equal treatment. Kovalainen was lacking in both results and desire.
With Caterham he has probably driven better but that's it. He wasn't like Alonso in a Minardi or Vettel in a STR. He needed something like that to restore his credentials but he couldn't.
Pay drivers are not new either. They are as old as the sport itself. But usually they can only pick off drivers whose performances are questionable anyway. Pic maybe worse than Kovalainen right now but he may improve. Kovalainen has had more than enough time to show if he had anything special.
Kovalainen is a very nice person but he just doesn't have what it takes. At the very least he is expendable. He never said anything harsh about Caterham to the media but Caterham probably didn't like it when he often stated he wanted to move to a better team.