I think I could happily agree with all of what you just said.ESPImperium wrote:First off ill say im a Heiki fan.
Second, my view;
2006-2007 as a Renault test and development driver in 2006 he impressed, he was as quick as Alonso in a good few tests and quicker than Fisi consistanly in 2006 testing. In 2007 when he got his race debut he was unlucky in the early part of the season with how his races panned out but his consistant race form was where he ultimatly grew as a driver and beat Fisi 30 points to 21. He was the best of the rest in 2007 as McLaren, Ferrari and BMW had P1 to P6 in the WDC and Heiki was P7. Solid rookie season. The team then were really happy with him and his feedback.
2008-2009 in McLaren, he cam in with people already telling him he was a #2 driver, and nothing else. He came with the same attitude, however he did do alot more of Testing to Lewis, he was the one, with some assistance from PdlR and and Paffett so he was not really a #2 driver. However Quali was his weak point. He had his victory at Hungary, however he could have won at Monza in 2008, but Vettel was imperius that day and Heikis race engineer wasnt wanting to make a mistake by putting on grooves toward the end, whitch could have won him the race. In 2009 he was a shadow of what he could have became, he found it difficult to extract the maximum from a poor car and Hamilton was showing what a driver he could be on a "learning year" for him. He left McLaren with a poor phycological state.
2010-2012 at Lotus Racing first he came with a attitude of im in it for the long haul, he knew he was in a car that wouldnt be as quick straight away, however he got his head arround this fact quickly and he started to get the better of the more expeienced Trulli towards the end of the season. In 2011 in the Team Lotus T128 he showed that the car was quick enough, however it did have problems, he managed to extract the best from a car that neither Chandhok or Trulli could. He finally matured as a driver and now in the CT01 he is quick in Quali and is as quick in the race. He has finally matured as a driver i think.
Id be surprised if he moves from Caterham next year, as his contract is up at the end of the year, however with drivers in the top 3 teams posibly doing a swapsie for 2013, he could find himself in a good midfeild car next year. Id say that if McLaren loose Hamilton or Mercedes loose Michael, Di resta will replace one of them at one of those teams, whitch leads me to think that there could be at least one space at Force India for 2013, and if there is id expect to see them try to get Heiki or go for one of the top GP2 graduates for 2013. However i think he will be at the wheel of a Caterham for 2013, i recon he will sign a 2 year with Caterham holding a option for a futher third soon. Lets face it, Caterham is the team that joined in 2010 that is growing and is now much more of a established team than Marussia and HRT, and Heikki has the opertunity to build the team arround him, as every team barring maybe 3 or 4 is built arround one driver somewhere, even if the teams dont admit it or the drivers show it.
Great post, exactly how I feel about him.
