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...How Hungary proved that results rarely tally with performance
Published on Wednesday August 20th 2008
The real merits of individual drives in F1 tend to differ wildly from the perception. Heikki Kovalainen recalls his drive in Hungary last year in the Renault as his best performance of that season - yet he finished an unheralded eighth.
He was embroiled in a scrap with Mark Webber's Red Bull from the start of the race to the end, a fight that he won. The pair of them were flat-out all afternoon, and Heikki's adaptation to the changing track conditions and handling of the car as the tyres wore was perfect.
His in and out-laps were mighty, and he brought the car to a halt inch-perfect at both his stops, enabling his crew to turn him around in the minimum of time. He made the right calls on wing adjustment both times.
All in all, it was close to a perfect day's work. The Renault R27 could almost certainly not have done any better that day, regardless of who had been driving it. Heikki finished four places, and 40 seconds, ahead of teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. It was a great drive.