Heikki Kovalainen talks about the strengths of his former Formula One teammate Lewis Hamilton as well as his rivalries with Rosberg and Alonso
Ex-Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen has spoken at length to talkSPORT in an interview about the strengths of his former teammate Lewis Hamilton, who he also credits with having a lasting negative impact on Fernando Alonso’s career, among other things.
Hamilton has now equalled Michael Schumacher’s record for the most world championship titles with seven triumphs, and the Mercedes driver has also set a number of new milestones. However, Hamilton’s former team-mate would not have expected that: “We knew he was very good, but nobody would have thought that he would break Michael’s records.”
“But of course it was clear that he would become world champion at some point, which he did. But it’s not just his talent, it’s combining talent with hard work. He is very determined. When he wants something, he gives everything to achieve it,” explained Kovalainen.
This was also the case outside of Formula One: “If we had played golf, he would have been just as determined. He just always wanted to beat you, no matter what the discipline,” the former Formula One driver said.
Another reason for Hamilton’s success, according to Kovalainen, is the way he deals with setbacks: “Compared to other athletes, his great strength is to fight back after setbacks and come back even stronger.”
“His performance level is so high that even super talents like Max Verstappen have to work very hard and expend a lot of energy, and not everyone can do that,” Kovalainen explained.
The last time Hamilton was beaten on a level playing field was in 2016, when his then Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg literally sacrificed his entire personal life to topple the Briton from the world title throne.
“I think Rosberg had to fight with all his might to beat Lewis. And as he said himself, it nearly killed him. He couldn’t have driven another season like that or he would have died,” says Kovalainen.
That Rosberg gave everything in his world championship season to defeat Hamilton is proven by several stories. For example, the German stopped cycling during the 2016 summer break to save extra body weight on his leg muscles, which gave him a few hundredths of a second.
Kovalainen: Hamilton to blame for Alonso’s missteps
But in addition to Rosberg, Hamilton had also made life difficult for his first team-mate in Formula One, Fernando Alonso. In 2007, the Briton moved straight up from what was then GP2 (now Formula 2) to the McLaren team and immediately fought for the world championship.
Alonso, who left Renault for McLaren after his two world championship titles in 2005 and 2006, repeatedly tried to lead Hamilton up the garden path with political games. However, due to the espionage affair and internal team conflicts, the Spaniard himself was forced to leave McLaren after just one season alongside Hamilton.
For Kovalainen, there is a connection that Alonso was unable to win another F1 title after his season with Hamilton: “After his World Championship titles with Renault, Alonso always made the wrong team decisions and I could imagine that Hamilton’s speed was the trigger.”
“If that is the main cause, apart from the conflicts with Ron Dennis and the McLaren team, his return to Renault was the start of a downward spiral from which he never really recovered,” adds Kovalainen.
Kovalainen, on the other hand, does not yet presume to pass judgement on Hamilton’s new team-mate George Russell, as it is “too early” to draw any conclusions.
Kovalainen: “I was never a big threat to Lewis “
Looking back on his own time with Hamilton as a teammate in the 2008 and 2009 seasons at McLaren, he is self-critical: “Sometimes I was on par with him, but over a whole season I had to squeeze everything out of every session to get to his level.”
“I had to stretch myself so much that at some point I ran out of energy. I couldn’t match his times and I didn’t have that capacity in the race either,” he says.
The fact that he himself did not have any intra-team conflicts with Hamilton, unlike Rosberg and Alonso, he puts down to his lack of performance: “I always got on well with Lewis. Maybe one reason for that is that I was never much of a threat to him. Rosberg was able to offer greater resistance and also did things, for example, that were not so nice but necessary for the duel. “
