Press Releases - Driver Performance Review

Driver Performance Review

Laine and Häkkinen have started their first F1 season with variable success. Now six GP’s have been driven out of which the last one, Monaco GP, was the worst. In Monaco the race of both drivers ended in DNF and Laine started the race from the last position, because his setup parameters were messed up. The same happened to Häkkinen in preceding qualifying in Barcelona.

Considering only the numbers in qualifying Häkkinen and Laine do equally well, Häkkinen having average position 22 and Laine 23. Success in races for Laine has been thus far a lot better. Laine’s average position at the chequered flag has been 15th, while Häkkinen’s 23rd. Häkkinen has finished the race only in Sepang, Sakhir and Barcelona, what explains the ugly numbers a bit. Häkkinen has also been many times the unlucky part of a collision.

Laine has scored the only points for Williams in Barcelona and Albert Park. We still have a lot of season ahead of us, so we are not talking about the final pecking order here, but Laine has proven that he is definitely up for the challenge, even if he started the season as the underdog. A few asked me that why was Laine chosen to the team before Kauria. In my opinion he has demonstrated that he is competitive enough and is able to drive good solid races without committing too many stupid mistakes.