Heikki Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen

Nation:	Finland
Formula 1 world championship
First start:	2007 Australian Grand Prix
Last start:	2013 Brazilian Grand Prix
Constructors
2007  Renault  • 2008–2009  McLaren  • 2010–2011  Lotus  • 2012  Caterham  • 2013  Lotus
statistics
World Cup balance:	Seventh World Cup ( 2007 , 2008 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 111 1 1 2
World Cup points :	105
Podiums :	4th
Leadership laps :	42 over 207.0 km

Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (born October 19, 1981 in Suomussalmi ) is a Finnish automobile racing driver . He started in Formula 1 from 2007 to 2013 and was under contract with Lotus in 2013 .

Kovalainen won the 2004 World Series by Nissan championship and was runner-up in the GP2 series in 2005 .

Career

Beginnings in motorsport

Kovalainen started his motorsport career in karting in 1991 . Among other things, he was Finnish Vice Kart Champion in 1999 and 2000. In 2000 he made a name for himself for the first time by winning four titles. His biggest triumph was the Kart Driver of the Year in Finland award. In 2001 Kovalainen drove in the British Formula Renault and was fourth in the overall standings at the end of the season. He secured two wins and two pole positions and was the best newcomer of the season. He also contested the Macau Grand Prix , where he finished eighth.

In 2002 he started in the British Formula 3 championship and finished the season with five wins in third place overall. In the Macau Grand Prix he finished second this time after finishing eighth the previous year. After the two years in England, Kovalainen switched to the World Series by Nissan in 2003 and immediately became runner-up behind his team-mate Franck Montagny . A year later in 2004 he won the championship title of this series. In December 2004, Kovalainen was able to win the Race of Champions . In 2005 , Kovalainen started the newly founded GP2 series , which was held as part of the Formula 1 supporting program , for Arden International . He finished the season as runner-up behind Nico Rosberg , who, like Kovalainen, had won five races. In the same year he drove the first tests for the Renault Formula 1 team . In 2006 he was then hired by Renault as an official test and reserve driver.

formula 1

Renault (2007)

Kovalainen in the Renault R27, Australian GP 2007

For the 2007 Formula 1 season , Kovalainen was hired by Renault as a regular driver and successor to world champion Fernando Alonso . In his first race in Australia , he finished 13th. At the second race of the season in Malaysia , Kovalainen secured the first world championship point of his career with eighth place. In the chaotic race in Canada , the Finn, who started from 22nd place on the grid, finished fourth and even had the chance to get on the podium until shortly before the end. Kovalainen achieved his first podium finish at the Japanese Grand Prix in Fuji when he crossed the finish line behind Briton Lewis Hamilton and ahead of compatriot and later world champion Kimi Raikkonen . At the end of the season, Kovalainen finished in seventh place overall, ahead of his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella .

On December 10, 2007, the Renault team officially announced the return of Alonso. Since the second cockpit was given to the Brazilian Nelson Piquet junior , Kovalainen was temporarily without a contract for the next season. Four days later, however, Alonso's former employer McLaren signed the Finn as the second driver alongside Hamilton for the 2008 season .

McLaren (2008-2009)

Kovalainen in the McLaren MP4-23, Belgian GP 2008

In the first races of the season, the Finn drove on a par with the favored Hamilton and after three races was tied with the British in the world championship. At the Spanish Grand Prix , Kovalainen drove almost unbraked into the tire wall on lap 22 after the rim on the left front wheel of his McLaren broke. The Finn was uninjured in the accident and competed again in the Turkish Grand Prix two weeks later .

2009: Kovalainen on the street circuit in Valencia

In the run-up to the Hungarian Grand Prix , McLaren-Mercedes announced that Kovalainen would also compete for the “Silver Arrows” alongside Hamilton in 2009 . On race Sunday, Kovalainen celebrated his first Grand Prix victory, which he inherited after the retirement of the leading Felipe Massa three laps before the end. This makes him the 100th driver to be entered on the Formula 1 list of winners. Kovalainen won no other races in the season and finished seventh in the drivers' championship, which his teammate Hamilton won.

In 2009, the first race showed that the McLaren could not keep up with the leaders and so it was difficult for Kovalainen to achieve good results. After scoring points only once in the first eight races of the season, he benefited from a significantly improved McLaren from the German Grand Prix and finished all of the next six races in the points. However, as in the previous year, his consistent performance was surpassed by his team-mate Hamilton, who won two races in the same period and finished second once. At the end of the season, Kovalainen finished twelfth overall with 22 points, while Hamilton was fifth with 49 points. Because of his poor performance, Kovalainen had to leave McLaren at the end of the season.

Lotus / Caterham (2010-2013)

Kovalainen at the Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain 2010

For the 2010 season , Kovalainen was signed as a team-mate of Jarno Trulli from the new Lotus Racing team, which had entered Formula 1 together with two other teams. He crossed the finish line in the first four races, although he was not classified in Malaysia , ten laps behind. At the Spanish Grand Prix , the Finn was unable to take part in the race due to technical problems. At the Japanese Grand Prix he benefited from a few failures and achieved his best result with twelfth place. At the end of the season he finished 20th overall as the best pilot of the new teams.

In 2011 , Kovalainen stayed with Lotus. As in the previous year, he remained without points and a 13th place was his best individual result. He prevailed against his team-mate Trulli with 16: 2 in qualifying and 10: 6 in the race duel. However, since Trulli had a 13th place more, Kovalainen ended the season one position behind Trulli in 22nd place overall.

Kovalainen at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

In 2012 , Kovalainen played his third season for the team, which has been the Caterham F1 Team since this season . At the Monaco Grand Prix he kept Jenson Button , who had a faster car, behind him for many laps and finally crossed the finish line in 13th place. He was 13th in another race. As he was again without points, the race placements decided on the world championship rank. Since his team-mate Vitaly Petrow had achieved a better placement with eleventh place, Kovalainen was 22nd overall at the end of the season, Petrow 19th overall.

In 2013 , Kovalainen was initially without a cockpit in Formula 1. He stayed with Caterham as a test driver. In this role he took part in six free trainings.

Lotus (2013)

Two races before the end of the season he was signed by the Lotus F1 Team to replace the injured Raikkonen. With this, Kovalainen is returning to the racing team where he started his Formula 1 career - at that time under the name Renault. In both the USA and Brazil he finished in 14th place.

GT sport

Super GT

Before the 2014 DTM season , Kovalainen tested for both HWA AG and Schnitzer Motorsport , but did not get involved in the series.

The Finn has competed in the Japanese Super GT since 2015 and won the overall standings in the GT 500 class together with his team-mate Kohei Hirate in 2016 .

statistics

Career stations

1991-2000: karting 2001: British Formula Renault (4th place) 2002: British Formula 3 (3rd place) 2003: World Series by Nissan (2nd place) 2004: World Series by Nissan (champions)

2005 : GP2 series (2nd place) 2005 : Formula 1 (test driver) 2006 : Formula 1 (test driver) 2007 : Formula 1 (7th place) 2008 : Formula 1 (7th place)

2009 : Formula 1 (12th place) 2010 : Formula 1 (20th place) 2011 : Formula 1 (22nd place) 2012 : Formula 1 (22nd place) 2013 : Formula 1 (21st place)

Individual results in the GP2 series

year	team	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd	23	Points	rank
2005	Arden International	ITA		ESP		MON	GER		FRA		GBR		GER		HUN		DOOR		ITA		BEL		BRN		105	2.
		1	3	3	DNF	5	1	DNF	1	3	2	3	5	6th	2	5	10	1	1	5	15th	9	3	DNF

Statistics in the Formula 1 World Championship

Grand Prix victories

• 2008:  Hungary  ( Mogyoród )

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
2007	ING Renault F1 Team	Renault R27	Renault 2.4 V8	17th	-	1	-	-	-	30th	7th
2008	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4-23	Mercedes 2.4 V8	18th	1	1	1	1	2	53	7th
2009	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren MP4-24	Mercedes 2.4 V8	17th	-	-	-	-	-	22nd	12.
2010	Lotus Racing	Lotus T127	Cosworth 2.4 V8	18th	-	-	-	-	-	-	20th
2011	Team Lotus	Lotus T128	Renault 2.4 V8	19th	-	-	-	-	-	-	22nd
2012	Caterham F1 team	Caterham CT01	Renault 2.4 V8	20th	-	-	-	-	-	-	22nd
2013	Lotus F1 Team	Lotus E21	Renault 2.4 V8	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	21st
total				111	1	2	1	1	2	105

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th
2007
	10	8th	9	7th	13	4th	5	15th	7th	8th	8th	6th	7th	8th	2	9	DNF
2008
	5	3	5	DNF	12	8th	9	4th	5	5	1	4th	10 *	2	10	DNF	DNF	7th
2009
	DNF	DNF	5	12	DNF	DNF	14th	DNF	8th	5	4th	6th	6th	7th	11	12	11
2010
	15th	13	NC	14th	DNS	DNF	DNF	16	DNF	17th	DNF	14th	16	18th	16 *	12	13	18th	17th
2011
	DNF	15th	16	19th	DNF	14th	DNF	19th	DNF	16	DNF	15th	13	16	18th	14th	14th	17th	16
2012
	DNF	18th	23	17th	16	13	18th	14th	17th	19th	17th	17th	14th	15th	15th	17th	18th	13	18th	14th
2013
				PO	PO						PO	PO			PO		PO	14th	14th

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Web links

Commons : Heikki Kovalainen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Heikki Kovalainen (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Kovalainen was briefly unconscious in the crash" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 27, 2008)
2. ↑ "McLaren-Mercedes confirms Kovalainen for 2009" (Motorsport-Total.com on July 31, 2008)
3. ↑ "Lotus confirms Trulli and Kovalainen" (Motorsport-Total.com on December 14, 2009)
4. ↑ "Lotus: Changes to the driver pairing" unlikely "" (Motorsport-Total.com on November 16, 2010)
5. ↑ "Fernandes thinks of Kovalainen" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 15, 2011)
6. ↑ ^{a b} Pablo Elizalde: “Lotus confirms Heikki Kovalainen to replace Kimi Raikkonen”. autosport.com, November 14, 2013, accessed November 14, 2013 .