Beautiful Dreamer - Dream on....... From feed me F1: Heikki Kovalainen is sure he will be treated equally by the McLaren team in 2008.
Officials of the Mercedes powered team went to great lengths last season to insist that Lewis Hamilton, the British rookie, was treated the same as new recruit and double world champion Fernando Alonso. But while Kovalainen is replacing the dissatisfied Alonso, while he is understood to have fled Renault to avoid 'number two' status for 2008, McLaren bosses have been making noises about possibly putting more emphasis behind Hamilton's title push next year.
Chief executive Martin Whitmarsh (Mr Whippy) acknowledged recently that total driver equality makes winning world championships "more difficult", and later earmarked Hamilton as the "talisman that can take us to a championship". Kovalainen, who is 26, admitted to the BBC London radio station 94.9 that he faces a task to reach the status that Hamilton has established at McLaren in 2007 and earlier.
He is not, however, expecting the same sort of problems that marred Hamilton's relationship with Alonso.
"With Lewis I think we can fight on the track as much as we can but off the track we can laugh about it," Kovalainen said.
"One of the important things I wanted to establish before I signed the contact at McLaren was that I would be treated equally," he added.
"I think in the past McLaren have treated drivers equally -- including this year. I don't think it will be a problem at all."
Another year like this one Mr Whippy should be watching his 6 o'clock.
He was sent to Ilmor to sort it out and the rumour was they sent him back. Some calls for Big Ron to retire are a bit wide of the mark. I think he'll keep on keeping on, just so he can confuse everyone with his Ronspeak diatribes. Hell and damnation - he's only one month older than me anyway.