Heikki Kovalainen's victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend is good news for Britain's
Lewis Hamilton, that's the belief of
ITV F1 pundit and
Crash.net columnist
Mark Blundell.
Blundell, who raced in the
FIA Formula 1 World Championship on and off from 1991 to 1995, competing for the likes of
McLaren, Tyrrell and Ligier, told Britain's
Daily Telegraph newspaper that the confidence boost Heikki will have got from taking his maiden win will be a bonus for Hamilton.
Indeed Kovalainen could now start to take more points of the likes of
Ferrari's
Kimi Raikkonen and
Felipe Massa, and that in turn will not only help Lewis in the battle for the 2008 drivers' crown, but it will also aid McLaren-Mercedes as Ron Dennis' men look to close the eleven point gap to the Scuderia in the constructors' championship.
"The biggest boost to Hamilton going forward could be the maiden victory of
Heikki Kovalainen. Drivers are flesh and blood like everyone else. They all have egos and get emotional. Kovalainen would have left Hungary a couple of inches taller," MB told the 'paper in his post-GP column.
"He has not hit the sweet spot as often as Hamilton, but now he will turn up at the next race with a victory under his belt and confident of repeating his success at a Valencia track new to everybody.
"Hamilton will always back himself, of course, but a competitive Kovalainen is good for him and a team chasing the constructors' title."
Blundell meanwhile was very impressed with performance put in by Felipe Massa and
Timo Glock during the event at the Hungaroring. Indeed he reckons that Glock's runners-up spot could be a sign that Toyota is finally about to start delivering.
"Massa was the class act of the field from the first corner until his engine blew up with three laps to go. He deserved to win," Blundell added. "Glock was my driver of the day though after Massa. He drove with maturity and focus to deliver
Toyota's most substantial result in
Formula One.
