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.

yea ur tight

If Hamilton does not win the championship this year then the hype may drift away.. I remember them hyping Jensen Button as the big new hope lol

Lewis feels he has the package and has said if he does not win the championship then he can offer no excuses. to me all this shows is that McLaren have a good car despite the restrictions on development and that Heikki is settling in well. Lewis has to find his way in the car with no TC. he will find his best set up before the season starts then hopefully both he and Heikki will be evenly matched. I wish them both good luck - come on boys, bring it home for McLaren.

On the subject of Fernando - he was really fast in last years Renault so I believe it is both him and his car that gave him the 2 championships. He is a good driver and can handle whatever machinery he drives well. he just needs to manage that fiery Spanish temperament a bit off track :-)

like you said ,its only testing ,dont read anything into it,when the lights go out ,only then does the race begin

Fisichella was in the same car the two years Alonso won a championship. No driver can win the championship without a great car. That having been said, I hope Heikki beats up on him. I dont see it happening though.

He might be !
Hamilton's spins came, I think in rather poor mixed wet/dry conditions when the car was in the early phases of it`s testing.
The trouble with testing is that you never know what programme each driver is on, so comparisons can, as you so rightly say, be difficult.
When the car gets a bit more development and they fire the things up in anger for the first time at Melbourne, we will see. Monaco practice should be interesting and the first wet qualifying too, wherever it should be !

I rather agree with your sentiments regarding the chubby faced Iberian betrayer, I really cannot even bring myself to type his name now and I admired him once.
I believe he will have a few `karma` moments this season.

Ur right.

They should've taken the electronic aids off last year, but they couldn't cos everyone knows they were added for SchMACKED out SchMACKER's benefit (he used to go backwards at the start remember..., until he pushed for the launch control on "safety grounds"...)

However, Hamilton was in the test session with added weight...he was cranking out some serious dancehall ragga thru 18" drivers....."beep, beep ya betta move ova, here comes ya F1 driva, ....back up in thisya driva, ya back up ina murdah, bak up ina murdah yah move ova...beep beep, ya betta move ova...etc" sang to Tiger's ragga hit sound HEH HEH HEH. Wheelout!!!

I guess it comes down to the fact Hamilton is actually pushing the car almost outside of it's design envelope, so for him to go off the track isn't at all surprising. What is important is he does it now and not during a race. While the aids may make the car easier to drive, I wouldn't go so far as to say "it was impossible to make big mistakes" as that is exactly what cost him the championship.
I don't think you should belittle Alonso. He has very few crashes, very few breakdowns, very few "incidents", produces good results, and actually won 2 world championships. From what I can tell, he is actually a very good driver, so he will get more out of the car than most of us ever would.

I believe Heikki will be able to perform more consistently than Lewis. Even when the car was slow, Heikki has always been able to score some points. Lewis is good, but it makes me wonder if he would've done just as well if he was in Heikki's Renault 2007 instead.

And if Lewis is beaten by Heikki, it just shows that Heikki genuinely has the talent, while Lewis had a little extra luck last year.

This year will be the year we'll see who's the true quality F1 driver and who's a just-another-racing-driver.

Lets just wait till the first race to pass judgement

Well, it's only testing. Teams are just checking out their new cars, finding out if everything functions well and how they can improve. New components will be introduced only later. So, when the race starts, we'll truly know the capabilites of each car.

I'm not very sure if Heikki can beat Hamilton or vice versa but I think they'll be evenly matched

in a similar car, maybe heikki can outrun hamilton

it will also depend on who will be the #1 driver for mclaren

driving in the renault, heikki most of the time finished in championship team, maybe in a new team, he can shine better