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Shane2

Symonds Comes To Kovalinen's Defence

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Renault’s engineering chief Pat Symonds has defended Heikki Kovalainen following the Finn’s unconvincing grand prix debut in Melbourne.

Kovalainen qualified 13th and only made up three places in the race after losing time with a spin and several other off-course excursions.

Team boss Flavio Briatore didn’t spare his young driver’s feelings after the race, branding his performance “rubbish” and calling on him to redeem himself at the next grand prix in Malaysia.

But speaking to Renault’s F1 website, Symonds pointed out that a lack of track time due to fuel system problems had put Kovalainen on the back foot from the outset.

“It was very tough for him right from the start of the weekend,” he said.

“The scene does get set right at the start.

“What happens on Friday has a knock-on effect all the way through the weekend, and unfortunately he didn’t have a good Friday, he didn’t have a good Saturday.

“A lot of time lost with some problems on the fuel system, and of course partly the weather on Friday as well.”

While Briatore drew unflattering comparisons with Lewis Hamilton’s accomplished debut performance, Symonds insisted it was only to be expected that Kovalainen would make some errors in his rookie season.

“We’ve always said that when you take on a new driver you’ve got to accept and you’ve got to live with mistakes that they’re going to make in their first year,” he said.

“It’s only natural and most of them do it.”

Kovalainen himself took a less sanguine view of his Melbourne setback.

“To be honest it was as bad a race as it possibly can be,” he lamented.

“We had a lot of problems on Friday and Saturday so I did miss quite a lot of track time and as it’s a new circuit [to me] it probably would have helped me a little bit.

“But in any case, it should not be an excuse.

“I think I had enough track time to learn the track and be able to push better in qualifying better.

“But I didn’t manage to do a good lap in qualifying and then in the race I was stuck behind the other cars literally the whole race.

“When there was a possibility to make some ground then I made a couple of mistakes and fell back again.”

“I really don’t know what to take from this weekend,” he added.

“It’s very disappointing and I should have been able to do a lot better than this.

“But in any case it didn’t happen, and all we can do is forget about it and go to Malaysia with our heads up again and start from zero.”

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At least he holds his hands up and admits he should have done better. I wish him the best of luck in doing so in Malaysia.

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I tell you what, I generally give rookies a huge slice of forgiveness pie, but I saw fear and shock in HK's eyes during an grid-interview before Oz. That same look wasn't in Hamilton's eyes and I'll wager it wasn't in Sutil's eyes either. That look of overwhelming shock tells me HK isn't ready to be on the grid. Maybe he'll improve, but he's going to be a danger on-track until he pulls himself together.

I could be wrong about HK, but that's my take on it.

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I tell you what, I generally give rookies a huge slice of forgiveness pie, but I saw fear and shock in HK's eyes during an grid-interview before Oz. That same look wasn't in Hamilton's eyes and I'll wager it wasn't in Sutil's eyes either. That look of overwhelming shock tells me HK isn't ready to be on the grid. Maybe he'll improve, but he's going to be a danger on-track until he pulls himself together.

I could be wrong about HK, but that's my take on it.

If his self-confidence didn't take a fatal blow after Flavio's remarks, I think he will reach at least decently enough in no more than 1 or 2 races.

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The year starts rather badly for Renault but it's just too easy to put all the blame on the drivers. Briatore was dumb enough to let Alonso go..... it was clear in my opinion that Fisi and HK would make a weak line up considering Renault ambition. Briatore can kiss the world championship goodbye. As for HK he'll probably improve, but would he fail to do so.......

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I tell you what, I generally give rookies a huge slice of forgiveness pie, but I saw fear and shock in HK's eyes during an grid-interview before Oz. That same look wasn't in Hamilton's eyes and I'll wager it wasn't in Sutil's eyes either. That look of overwhelming shock tells me HK isn't ready to be on the grid. Maybe he'll improve, but he's going to be a danger on-track until he pulls himself together.

I could be wrong about HK, but that's my take on it.

I think that fears stems from the fact that Briatore is putting so much pressure on him. Flavio doesnt seem to realise that all rookies make mistakes and that most of them will eventually come good. You cant just expect a rookie to be fast out of the box.

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You cant just expect a rookie to be fast out of the box.

Hamilton maybe?...

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Hamilton maybe?...

Hamilton may be the exception to the rule but saying that Hamilton has only done 1 races and i think we should reserve judgement on him.

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I think he meant to say you can't expect All rookies to be fast out of the box.

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How about Sutil? He did well. And Rosberg...his first race was excellent! I think a rookie deserves a break, but I'll admit that ykick might be right an the environment at Renault may have him spooked. The problem with a spooked racer is that they make more mistakes...and that could result in, at best, someone's race being ruined and at worst, an injury.

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I think he meant to say you can't expect All rookies to be fast out of the box.

In the pinnacle of motorsports I can...

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Typical bad cop-good cop tactic, but the fact remains that Heikki didn't impress in the land down under........

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In the pinnacle of motorsports I can...

I was talking about ykick, but it is unrealistic to expect a rookie to win a WDC on his first outing. Most rookies are put there to gain experience, with regards to becoming more accomplished racers, not to win WDC's on their first outing.

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I saw fear and shock in HK's eyes during an grid-interview before Oz. That same look wasn't in Hamilton's eyes and I'll wager it wasn't in Sutil's eyes either.

Maybe true, but Hamilton and Sutil are not replacing a race seat of a former 2 time world champion. Sutil is coming into a team that's basically brand spanking new so why should there be any pressure. Lewis Hamilton is replacing JPM and is being compared to Alonso which makes him the under dog. As an under dog, you'll never have to live up to any expectation. Hamilton is good, but he still made a couple of rookie mistake like running off course.

I think Hamilton is good, but he's a wimp. If you guys can recall Brazil 2006. Hamilton said that it was good that he DIDN'T debut at Brazil because it was a track that he has never went to before and it could had hurted his F1 career.

If you're a true racer, you wouldn't care.

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There was this take from the inside of Heikki's car, you could see him fumbling with the wheel's controls, he seemed very nervous and overwhelmed. He should be used to work hard on the controls while driving, after all he was a test driver, but maybe he was not used to do all that and try to race against others at the same time. Albers crashed for fooling around with an earplug :lol:

So, even if HK's debut was anything but convincing, I am not ready to condemn him yet.

This is going to be one tough year for Renault, that's for sure :(

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I was expecting a little better performance from HK in Melbourne, to tell the truth and I'm a bit shocked at what Flavio said about him aswell. But we all need to give the bloke some time to adapt to the pressures a race weekend, and I'm sure that we will see a improvement in his performance over the next couple of rounds. I hope so anyway because I'm one of those many people that stuck their neck out and said that HK will end the career of "appy little Fisichella"

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I was talking about ykick, but it is unrealistic to expect a rookie to win a WDC on his first outing. Most rookies are put there to gain experience, with regards to becoming more accomplished racers, not to win WDC's on their first outing.

I agree. That's why I try to give each rookie the benefit of the doubt....but it will take time to erase that overwhelmed look he had in Oz.

Maybe true, but Hamilton and Sutil are not replacing a race seat of a former 2 time world champion. Sutil is coming into a team that's basically brand spanking new so why should there be any pressure. Lewis Hamilton is replacing JPM and is being compared to Alonso which makes him the under dog. As an under dog, you'll never have to live up to any expectation. Hamilton is good, but he still made a couple of rookie mistake like running off course.

Respectfully, running wide on exit is not a rookie mistake. Stalling in the pits, spinning on entry, screwing up a pass, those are rookie mistakes. Going wide is a mistake, but it's a common error and most common to a driver who is pushing.

I think Hamilton is good, but he's a wimp. If you guys can recall Brazil 2006. Hamilton said that it was good that he DIDN'T debut at Brazil because it was a track that he has never went to before and it could had hurted his F1 career.

If you're a true racer, you wouldn't care.

If I recall, that was Ron Dennis who said that, not Hamilton. If anything, Hammy likely agreed with Ron because Ron employs him. This is irrelevant because Hammy has never driven at Melbourne either and he did just fine.

As for being a true racer...are you seriously suggesting Lewis Hamilton is not a pure racer? That's absurd, especially in light of his stunning performance in Oz.

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That was a misquote, what he actually said was, he was glad he didn't go because he was not ready for it at that point. Understandable as at that point he had only done 1 test session in the car.

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give HK a few more race and he will perform better. The difference between Hammy and HK is that the former was driving a much more competitive and better setup car. HK because of bad qualifying, was stuck in the mid field battling for positions. the mistakes he made were done when was pushing the car on the limit while following a car closely. The cars don't handle well in such conditions. I would be a lot more critical of HK if he was just going round and round with clear track and making no impression on the drivers in front of him....at least he was pushing hard for race positions....

Flavio is a tool...its his job to be a tool....

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I suppose we shall see.....

sounds like a typical Raikkonen response!!!

Briatore was dumb enough to let Alonso go.....

I dont think he had much choice!

I'm sure that we will see a improvement in his performance over the next couple of rounds. I hope so anyway because I'm one of those many people that stuck their neck out and said that HK will end the career of "appy little Fisichella"

And i was one of the many who said from the beginning that there's no way HK will beat Fisi over the course of a whole season, and I still think that way. Fisi's not bad, he was just made to look bad by Alonso

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give HK a few more race and he will perform better. The difference between Hammy and HK is that the former was driving a much more competitive and better setup car. HK because of bad qualifying, was stuck in the mid field battling for positions. the mistakes he made were done when was pushing the car on the limit while following a car closely. The cars don't handle well in such conditions. I would be a lot more critical of HK if he was just going round and round with clear track and making no impression on the drivers in front of him....at least he was pushing hard for race positions....

Flavio is a tool...its his job to be a tool....

Driving a slower car doesn't make a driver have off track excursions and spins. The renault wasn't the fastest, but its balance didn't look that bad

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Stopkidding, forgive me if it seems like I'm picking on you, but there are alot of points to address in your reply:

The difference between Hammy and HK is that the former was driving a much more competitive and better setup car.

The Renault is a two-time championship winning car. I cannot believe it has gone that much south in the span of a few months. These are the boys that bounced back from the TMD ruling in about a month; I cannot believe they aren't now able to come to grips with the tyres. I can only conclude that the input of the drivers has diminished with Alonso's absence. To back this up, during either qualifying or race, we heard an engineer ask HK, over the Renault team radio, what setting or the other he would prefer. HK responded 'I don't know, what do you think?'. It's this kind of input that keeps Renault from advancing. You can make a rough test of this by going into an F1 sim, running a few laps with a 'close' set-up, then do a few laps after you've dialed in something better. Your lap times improve the closer your suspension and aero settings are to the optimal settings.

HK because of bad qualifying, was stuck in the mid field battling for positions.

Shouldn't have been a problem if he had the car set-up to be faster than those mid-field cars. Not being able to pass cars in the midfield, indeed, qualifying in the midfield, are marks of a rookie. I can forgive those.

the mistakes he made were done when was pushing the car on the limit while following a car closely.

I'm not so sure of that. Didn't he spin once on corner entry with absolutely nobody in front of him?

Flavio is a tool...its his job to be a tool....

Indeed.

sounds like a typical Raikkonen response!!!

NonoatypicalRaikkonenresponsewouldnothaveanypausesinit.

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