Excellent strategic calls and and another fine drive in the wet in Shanghai allowed Heikki Kovalainen to bring his Lotus home ahead of one of the established teams’ cars on merit for the first time.
| Jarno Trulli | Heikki Kovalainen | |
| Qualifying position | 20 | 21 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 1’39.399 (-0.121) | 1’39.520 |
| Race position | 14 | |
| Average race lap | 2’31.106 (+33.425) | 1’57.681 |
| Laps | 26/56 | 55/56 |
| Pit stops | 4 | 2 |
Jarno Trulli
Held up by getting the tyre choice wrong at the start, then ended his race early with an hydraulic problem.
Noticeably slower than his team mate when they were on track at the same time during the race, but Trulli ran true to form by holding the upper hand in qualifying.
Compare Jarno Trulli’s form against his team mate in 2010
Heikki Kovalainen
While many other drivers – including his team mate – were duped into pitting too early for intermediate tyres, Kovalainen stayed out and reached as high as sixth place:
The decision to stay out early on dry tyres was made by me and the team together ?óÔé¼ÔÇ£ it wasn?óÔé¼Ôäót wet enough to come in and as soon as the race started I could see the rain had calmed down so we agreed it was the right call to stick with the plan. The other cars on wet tyres were obviously struggling so that worked out very well.
Heikki Kovalainen
Although he inevitably slipped back down the order when Nico H?â??lkenberg got his tyre choice wrong after the second safety car period it offered Kovalainen the chance to scalp one of the established teams.
He seized the chance splendidly, lapping consistently and error-free. H?â??lkenberg took up to five seconds per lap out of him, but by the end of the race Kovalainen still had nine seconds in hand. Giant-killing stuff.
Have a look at their battle on the interactive race chart by switching off all the lines apart from Kovalainen and H?â??lkenberg’s. Find it here
Compare Heikki Kovalainen’s form against his team mate in 2010
Bigbadderboom
19th April 2010, 14:36
Really good to see Heikki enjoying F1 again, he may not be amongst the cream of drivers but I think his partnership with Jarno will prove fruitful for Lotus. For me Lotus is looking the most likely for long term success from the new boys.
Disjunto
20th April 2010, 9:46
he strangely appears to be the most cheerful driver on the grid, lack of pressure for victories?
macahan
19th April 2010, 18:21
I’m very happy for Heikki and Lotus was a great race for them. To manage to get up to 6th position even if just briefly in itself deserves a big applaud. But to top off a good weekend for them they ontop of it all managed to finish ahead of Hulkenbergs Williams must feel very good for the team. Now to work out the gremlins and get a bit more speed and they might manage to start fight a bit with the bottom established teams and even get a car into Q2 without the other team blundering or being a weird one of race such as Malaysia and China with rain putting everything on it’s head.
Enigma
19th April 2010, 20:06
Heikki made a mistake in his flying lap in qualy, otherwise he’d beat Trulli and Glock.
Marc Connell
19th April 2010, 21:26
Lotus are doing well. In your face anti new teams faces!
US_Peter
19th April 2010, 22:30
Wow. I didn’t realize he finished ahead of Hülkenberg. Great for Lotus.
MEmo
20th April 2010, 2:34
Lotus is doing great… being a newbie! Nice to see him in 6th. But to be really in those heights fighting for real will take still more than a year… lets hope Lotus can be the next Force India…
GeeMac
20th April 2010, 7:04
Im’ very much looking forward to the updates the three newbies will bring to their cars during the course of the season. Hopefully these will include new sidepods for the Lotus, because it will defintely be the prettiest car on track then!
MEmo
21st April 2010, 3:03
agree with you, man! the most beautiful livery!!!
hassnol
20th April 2010, 7:05
Good Job Lotus.
maciek
20th April 2010, 7:57
I don’t know if this was already mentioned – but after Trulli’s retirement, the TV showed a quick glimpse of him in the garage involved in what looked like heated words with someone in a Lotus windbreaker (only from the back) – anyone know more about this?
Excellent to addition to the site, those interactive race charts.
kie
20th April 2010, 16:38
I get the feeling Trulli won’t be around next season… I don’t know whether his hearts in it…
GeorgeK
20th April 2010, 23:16
Slightly off topic, was there a sadder sight then the image of Kobayashi and DelaRosa both in the garage after retirements?
Sauber and Williams have to be the biggest busts of the year, so far anyways.
BritishRacing
21st April 2010, 13:28
Lotus needs more downforce!
multiboxing octopus
31st July 2010, 8:05
You should list somewhere an about/biography of yourself so people can realize the point of view you have when you write this.