The 2008 season was a interesting one, especially because Mclaren won the drivers championship but not the constructors, so it is a mixed situation for Ron, Martin and others.
The reason was clear when the second car struggled for grip and reliability. Lewis's car never failed with reliability, only some races the car lost grip. Heikki was clearly outpaced by Lewis Hamilton and he didn't get his car to work like Hamilton did.
But I choose to look at this situation technically, analysing how things worked at Mclaren after their disaster with Alonso.
Everybody in the paddock or with fans eyes expected Heikki to end the title race lower than team leader Hamilton, so nobody was disappointed after the season ended.
But in pre-season testing,we saw Heikki had the same speed as Hamilton so the situation looked like 2007. I think this gave Ron a warning to develop a strategy to decide how things would work in the team.
In Melbourne, Malaysia, and Bahrain, Heikki looked better, even sometimes faster, than Hamilton. Everything changed after the Spanish GP,and the accident he had there. Heikki's car had a puncture on a left rim and flew into the wall. Again Heikki had the heavier car so with a different set up than Lewis, and his car reacted negatively.
The Turkish GP was a good qualifying for Heikki, even with a heavier car he beat Lewis. I watched the practice live at the circuit and the fastest laps showed that there were not much difference between Finn and Brit.
The race was a different story, with a puncture from his compatriot Kimi. His race was off, but he passed people, especially Timo Glock in the start-finish straight of Istanbul Park, and that was spectacular. The race ended with 12th so his luck was not with him.
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