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Heikki; Star or Stooge?
Topic Started: May 12 2008, 08:54 AM (896 Views)
Alien_SAP_Fiend
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I can't help but think that Heikki's role is to help Lewis win the WDC, regardless of the constructor's or his own championship prospects.

I have watched yesterday's start several times and it is very, very obvious that Heikki is only concerned about blocking Kimi, while letting his short-fuelled team mate past. Had Heikki been racing Massa for position, then Kimi may very well have beaten Lewis to the first corner, so the obvious thing to do was to sacrifice Heikki's hard-earned 2nd place to Lewis. As a result, Heikki ended up damaging his tyre and Kimi's car, finishing with no points.

Why was Heikki so heavily fuelled if he was three-stopping (what was with that mad strategy with him having to come in AGAIN just before the finish)? Mclaren and Bridgestone were worried about the delamination issue that affected Lewis last year, which hasn't gone away due to the Mclaren's tendancy to chew tyres (which helps get them up to temperature but increases the risk of failure). This explains the stop in the closing stages, but if that was the case then Heikki should have been carrying the same or slightly more fuel than Lewis.

Perhaps this is just how things turned out, but it does seem to me that Heikki is Lewis' wingman. Lewis messed up his qualifying on Saturday by choosing the wrong tyres and ended up behind Heikki. Even JA admitted that Lewis' early stop 'took the shine off his qualifying performance'. Then, rather than let the team mates race for WDC points (which is what Ferrari have been doing) Heikki is ordered to let Lewis past and block his team mate's title rival, rather than race the Red Car in front of him.

Good thing Heikki's the Niceman, or else we'd have seen similar scenes to what happened last year when Alonso realised his true role.
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John
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<think> Any team where both drivers are ahead of the championship leader and one driver is fueled lighter than his team mate... I can't see you would expect any other outcome than the heavy guy blocks the championship leader and the lighter guy passes to challenge up front... I did not see anything other than textbook off the line

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Alien_SAP_Fiend
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Point taken. Let's see how the other races pan out.
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Red Andy
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If Lewis had been stuck behind Heikki for the first part of the race, the whole point of fuelling him light would have been negated. McLaren were probably hoping that Heikki could hold up Raikkonen while Lewis battled Massa for the lead.
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Alien_SAP_Fiend
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Red Andy,May 12 2008
09:26 AM
McLaren were probably hoping that Heikki could hold up Raikkonen while Lewis battled Massa for the lead.

And when that didn't work out (because Heikki ended up in front of Lewis on the grid) they stuck to the original plan.

Heikki has outqualified Lewis more than once this season. Why is Lewis not supporting him for the WDC?
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dazzerjp
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Alien_SAP_Fiend,May 12 2008
06:50 PM
Red Andy,May 12 2008
09:26 AM
McLaren were probably hoping that Heikki could hold up Raikkonen while Lewis battled Massa for the lead.

And when that didn't work out (because Heikki ended up in front of Lewis on the grid) they stuck to the original plan.

Heikki has outqualified Lewis more than once this season. Why is Lewis not supporting him for the WDC?

i dont think there is any near the team orders that we have seen in the recent past for MS and co or indeed KH and FM at Brazil last year.

I agree though, that Kovi did an excellent job of holding off Kimi and given the different full loads of both McLarn drivers; and Kovi starting on the really really dirty side of the track, the outcome was near perfect.

Kovi proved himself to be a geniune team mate and Im sure that team with be grateful for all the right reasons.
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AndyW76
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I don't think there was any sort of "team" strategy between the McLarens at the start. Heikke was on the dirty side of the grid, kimi was on the clean side. He just did a good job of defending his own position against Kimi. I don't believe that there is any team orders btween the McLarens yet. Why would they jepardise their standing in the WCC that way? I think all this talk of Mclaren team orders is just an attempt to justify a certain other team (3 guesses?) and their use of them
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John
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AndyW76,May 12 2008
03:08 PM
3 guesses?

Williams...

Red Bull...

Force India...



Close............... <think>
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AndyW76
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John,May 12 2008
02:17 PM
AndyW76,May 12 2008
03:08 PM
3 guesses?

Williams...

Red Bull...

Force India...



Close............... <think>

Hell, I'm not having a dig about team orders but some people seem to feel uncomfortable with Ferrari's past use of team orders and try to tar McLaren with the same brush when there is hardly any similarity between the cases. Hell, I don't mind if team orders are used, as long as it doesn't make a mockery of the sport and people don't get so damn insecure about it. On sunday, it was quite obvious that McLaren were not employing team orders.
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GordonB
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There were no team orders on the start.

If you watch it again, just about everyone on the right hand side of the grid had a rubbish start. Heikki did well to only lose one place.

We could equally be having a thread about Kimi's "blatant" cause of Heikki's puncture. But that would be equally rubbish.
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Speedworx
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As proven several times this season Heikki is FASTER than Lewis. He just gets al, the bad luck.

I really wish it had been Lewis to crash in Spain and he had the puncture in Turkey.

Heikki will beat Lewis in the final standings.
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bricon
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Speedworx,May 12 2008
06:15 PM
As proven several times this season Heikki is FASTER than Lewis. He just gets al, the bad luck.

I really wish it had been Lewis to crash in Spain and he had the puncture in Turkey.

Heikki will beat Lewis in the final standings.

He easily out qualified Lewis here - I believe that was the reason Hami was so perturbed at the post qualifing interviews.
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timmadigan
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AndyW76,May 12 2008
01:45 PM

Hell, I'm not having a dig about team orders but some people seem to feel uncomfortable with Ferrari's past use of team orders and try to tar McLaren with the same brush when there is hardly any similarity between the cases. Hell, I don't mind if team orders are used, as long as it doesn't make a mockery of the sport and people don't get so damn insecure about it. On sunday, it was quite obvious that McLaren were not employing team orders.

I find it a bit on the opposite side myself, Andy. Ferrari fans, along with fans of most of the other teams, have gotten use to the idea of 'non-blantant' team orders and have accepted they happen. It's only the McLaren fans who seem to get angry when people point out that they probably do the same.

The odds are, yes - Heikki was told to move over, keep in front of Kimi and if Lewis got by, so be it. He's on a lighter load so don't be his roadblock. It's only smart team strategy and less people forget, yes... this IS also a team sport.
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timmadigan
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bricon,May 12 2008
02:26 PM
Speedworx,May 12 2008
06:15 PM
As proven several times this season Heikki is FASTER than Lewis. He just gets al, the bad luck.

I really wish it had been Lewis to crash in Spain and he had the puncture in Turkey.

Heikki will beat Lewis in the final standings.

He easily out qualified Lewis here - I believe that was the reason Hami was so perturbed at the post qualifing interviews.

I doubt Lewis' perturbness at the post-qualifying interviews was down to being behind Heikki but in being behind anyone while on a light fuel load. It meant he had to have a phenominal start to regain his advantage and his starts have been hit or miss - either great or problematic, something he probably didn't want to rely on.
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Rob
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Speedworx,May 12 2008
01:15 PM
As proven several times this season Heikki is FASTER than Lewis. He just gets al, the bad luck.

I really wish it had been Lewis to crash in Spain and he had the puncture in Turkey.

Heikki will beat Lewis in the final standings.

I really have to disagree. Hekki might have pipped Lewis in quali, but over the course of a race Lewis will have his way. Lewis did very well putting in a series of quali type laps during the race because his pit sequence demanded it. I haven't seen anything from Hekki that leads me to believe he could do the same.
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