Heikki Kovalainen "quietly furious" about lack of upgrades

[Brogan]

According to the BBC, Heikki Kovalainen is "quietly furious" that the diffuser and other upgrades have only been applied to Lewis' car and not to his.

As I understand it, apart from the new front wing, there are only enough parts for 1 car and McLaren have taken the decision to fit them to Lewis' car, similar to what Renault did earlier in the season with regards to Alonso and Piquet.
You could say this is the obvious thing to do as Lewis is ahead of Heikki in the WDC with more than double the points and is equal or ahead when it comes fo qualifying, finishes and fastest laps.

So is Heikki justified in feeling hard done by or have McLaren made the correct decision?
Or should they perhaps have waited until there were enough parts for both cars to avoid favouring one driver?

Personally I think it's the correct approach.
If Heikki was ahead at this point in the season then similarly I would expect him to get all the upgrades first.

 

[teabagyokel]

Well, what the hell does he expect? Hamilton is ahead on the points table this year and he's the reigning World Champion. Kovalainen has never match him in equal equipment, so he doesn't deserve the upgrade.

If it were Alonso I could see the problem, but if you want the upgrade Heikki, you gotta earn it!

 

[bogaTYR]

its the front wing, new floor board and new back side of the car.

cos the differences are so close, the new parts worked well. but why did it take that long? plus surprising it took a new floor board.

 

[Brogan]

I think it's the whole floor which was fundamentally wrong boga which is why it has taken them so long to sort it.

Little tweaks here and there were never going to fix what was wrong with the McLaren, it was always going to be some kind of drastic surgery needed.

 

[bogaTYR]

its even bigger then i thought bro:

new, significantly different front wing concept, from the endplates to the main plane to the underside, streamlined engine cover and higher downforce rear wing and slightly tighter sidepods, and a massive double diffuser/floor upgrade and also different suspension. so massive work and it seems to have paid of when you see what the macca's did this weekend.

heikki only had part of these updates by the way.

but then, if you take in the fact LH had one of the lowest fuel loads during quali, i am not sure this lot really is the solution. seems to me, the team had more advantage of the fuel load then cos of the updates. also, what does the circuit do? this cold and damp road in the hillies seems to suit LH better then other circuits.

no bashing or anything, i am just more and more amazed and surprised by this situation.

 

[Brogan]

Even taking Lewis' fuel load into account, fuel adjusted he was still faster than both Brawns and 3rd fastest behind the Red Bulls.

This circuit does suit the KERS system as there is lots of heavy braking which enables it be charged quite quickly and can therefore be deployed at the approproate places.

However, I don't think there's any doubt the upgrades have had the desired effect, gaining as much as 0.7 seconds per lap perhaps.

 

[bogaTYR]

lets hope for the best bro. the more teams in the mix the better racing we should get

 

[Brogan]

lets hope for the best bro. the more teams in the mix the better racing we should get

Indeed.
All we need now is Fernando to be up there and it should make for an interesting second half of the season

 

[bogaTYR]

exactly bro

can i can can i?

force india being there is great too.

now there is something i waited for for a long long time