With the 2009 season only hours away, all the drivers on the grid will start with optimism, in the hope that 2009 can be their year. But for several drivers on the grid, 2009 will dictate which way their future in F1 will go.
It will either make or break their F1 careers—some will go on to bigger and better things, and some could find themselves on the F1 scrapheap like so many before.
Here I look at the drivers for whom 2009 is vitally important to their F1 future.
Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren Mercedes
Although most people will be surprised to see Heikki amongst this list, they will not be surprised at the reason why he is on it.
The Finn showed super speed on his way up to F1, winning the Formula Renault crown in 2004, defeating Michael Schumacher of all people in the Race of Champions that year and finishing second to Nico Rosberg in the inaugural GP2 season, he has failed to hit these heights during his time in F1.
Although he took his first win last year in Hungary, it was inherited rather than hard-earned, and Heikki finished a disappointing 7th in the championship, with just over half the points of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
The hierarchy at McLaren will not accept another average season by their high standards, and Heikki will have to raise his game in order to keep his seat for 2010
Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
After dramatically taking the title at the final race in 2007, Kimi had an appalling season in 2008, littered with driver errors and poor qualifying performances.
Although his race pace couldn’t be questioned, with a record 10 fastest laps throughout the season, he just never seemed to be interested in fighting for the title. He had some stunning drives—dominating at both Malaysia and Spain, and having a strong drive until the final rain-affected laps at Spa—but apart from that he never looked like a world champion.
There was rumours floating about the paddock that the Ferrari engineers were not happy with Kimi’s technical input, which is a key element in modern F1, and having not won a race since round four in Spain last season, Kimi will need to up his game back to his brilliant best if he is to continue to be a top-level driver in F1
Nick Heidfeld - BMW Sauber
Perhaps the biggest surprise on the list, ‘Quick Nick’ hasn’t exactly been underperforming in recent years.
He had a very strong 2007, and followed that up with some excellent drives throughout 2008, especially in mixed conditions at the likes of Silverstone and Spa.
But his biggest downfall was his qualifying—too often Nick started well down the field compared to team-mate Kubica, and had to fight his way through the field in order to score some decent points.
With BMW wanting to challenge for the drivers title in the next few years, the pressure will be on Nick to produce top drives in order to keep his BMW drive and have his best shot at finally taking his first career win
Nelson Piquet - Renault
2 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete