Heikki Kovalainen
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Heikki Kovalainen (born October 19, 1981 in Suomussalmi, Finland) is a Finnish formula one race car driver for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes formula one team. Kovalainen entered his Formula One rookie year as one of the most decorated newbies in the sport, having won the World Series by Nissan dominantly in addition to his victory at the Race of Champions at the Stade de France where he competed with the "who's who" in racing, including F1 multi-titlist Michael Schumacher of Ferrari, world rally champion Sebastien Loeb of France, and future Formula One rivals David Coulthard and Jean Alesi.
Kovalainen has since proven his mettle as a rookie despite racing with a "less-competitive" Renault car, managing to finish his maiden season within the top ten in the driver's championship. In his sophomore formula one season, Kovalainen will be paired with "batchmate" Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, aiming to follow up on the success of his compatriots Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Hakkinen who have both done well during their stint with the team.
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Personal Life
Heikki was born in Suomussalmi, close to the border with Lapland in northern Finland, but now resides in Oxford with his English girlfriend Catherine. In an interview, the 5-foot-6, 145 pound Finn said that the first word he said when he was a baby was “a car” in Finnish. Heikki enjoys going to gym, cycling, cross-country skiing, or playing golf when he is not busy with his F1 career. He considers his stint as an F1 driver as his greatest achievement, and his win over Schumacher and Loeb in the race of champions as his most memorable racing moment. His favorite race track is the Spa while his least favorite is the Paul Ricard. Heikki likes to watch James Bond films and likes to listen to Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell album.
Early Career
Karting
Kovalainen got involved with racing at a very young age, thanks mainly to his father who was an ice-racer. By the age of 10, when he already had a license, the F1 aspirant had already become a constant fixture at national and international karting events. In 1999, he bagged his first major recognition after finishing runner-up in the Finnish Karting Formula A which he repeated the following year. He also hauled in the Scandinavian Championship and the Paris Bercy Elf Masters Championship, eventually earning for himself the Karting Driver of the Year award in his native Finland.
Formula Renault
Bagging the Elf Masters paved the way for Kovalainen's association with Renault in late 2000. He competed in the UK based series Formula Renault Championship in 2001 (the same competition won by Räikkönen the previous year) and did fairly well after claiming two wins, two poles and posting three fastest laps in his debut to earn a fourth place finish in addition to the "Rookie of the Year" award handed to him by the Finnish Automobile Sports Federation.
Formula Three
Renault eventually signed the upstart driver to its Renault Driver Development programme, then made his F3 debut at the Macau Grand Prix with an 8th place finish. In 2002, Kovalainen elevated to the British F3 Championship aboard his Renault-powered car to represent team Fortec Motorsport. Although the team's vehicle was not the fastest on the field, Kovalainen and teammate Fabio Carbone still managed to give frontrunning Carlin Motorsport some serious competition with the Finnish driver contributing five wins and three pole positions enroute to a third place finish in the standings and another "Rookie of the Year" honors. He was also equally impressive in the British Grand Prix, adding the prestigious support race's title to his 2nd place finish in Macau and his 4th place finish in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.
World Series by Nissan
In 2003, Kovalainen took his motorsport journey in the Orient, competing in the Renault-owned World Series by Nissan to join the renowned Gabord Competicion team. In his debut season, Kovalainen managed to compile a win at the Lausitzring and two poles amidst the serious field of opposition headed by Narain Karthikeyan, Enrqiue Bernoldi, Marc Gene, and teammate Franck Montagny---the 2001 World Series by Nissan champion who was the eventual 2003 titlists with nine wins. His runner-up finish in Japan virtually opened a window to the F1 world, with test driving opportunities at both Renault and at Minardi offered before him. In the end, his ties with Renault prevailed as he signed with the team to be the second test driver behind Montagny. He made his F1 test driving debut with the Renault R23 model in Barcelona, then with the Minardi Cosworth at Vallelunga some weeks later.
In 2004, Kovalainen returned to the World Series, competing for the Pons Racing team. This time around, the Finnish driver played no second-fiddle as he rolled over the challengers, piling up strong performances that include a streak of seven consecutive podium finishes to end the season with six wins and a 1st place finish in the championship beating the likes of Tiago Monteiro and Jean-Christophe Ravier.
Race of Champions
Kovalainen's achievements, though impressive on paper, has yet to put him on the map of F1 racing. Nonetheless, his accomplishments was enough to land him a stint at the 2004 Race of Champions at the Stade de France in Paris. Kovalainen was teamed up with Marcus Gronholm in Team Finland for the Cup of Nations, but the team managed to finish only in 2nd place behind the French squad led by World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb after Kovalainen's Ferrari 360 Modena broke down in the finals. However, the highlight of the tournament came when Kovalainen upended Formula One icon Michael Schumacher in the ‘track racers’ final, then went on to beat Loeb in the finale to earn for himself the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy as the "Champion of Champions" and become the first non-rally driver to accomplish the feat. What's amazing about his triumph was the fact that he won the title in his first drive of a rally car, add up to that that he beat both Schumacher and Loeb with their "ideal" cars on hand.
With the intention of defending his title the next year, Kovalainen returned in 2005 but was knocked out in the semifinal by Tom Kristensen by a margin of 0.067 seconds. In 2006, team Finland still represented by Gronholm and Kovalainen claimed the Nations Cup but came short of winning the individual title, this time getting booted out by Mattias Ekström in the semis by a mere 0.0002 seconds. In 2007, Team Finland failed to defend their title after being humbled by Team Germany, represented by the strong pair of Michael Schumacher and Sebastien Vettel. After two straight disappointing finishes in the indivual race, Kovalainen was bent on redeeming himself in 2007. However, after beating Vettel, Kovalainen crashed right on the line in the next round to end his chances of becoming two-time "Champion of Champions."
GP2 Series
With his F1 dream still out of reach, Kovalainen remained with Renault who managed to assist him for a ride with the Arden Motorsport team in the GP2 series for 2005. Kovalainen carried off his remarkable performance the previous year in the "Champion of Champions" and dominated in the first half of the season but Nico Rosberg eventually caught up and bagged the title in the final race at Bahrain. Kovalainen settled for second place with 15 points.
Formula One
Entry to Formula One (2003)
His runner-up finish in Japan at the World Series virtually opened a window to the F1 world at Renault and at Minardi with test driving opportunities offered by both teams placed before him. In the end, his ties with Renault prevailed as he signed with the team to be the second test driver behind Montagny. He made his F1 test driving debut with the Renault R23B model in Barcelona on December of 2003, then with the Minardi Cosworth at Vallelunga some weeks later.
In late 2005, Kovalainen was promoted to lead test driver in lieu of Montagny, then spent most of the ensuing year in a full-time testing role, logging over 23,000 km of testing. Many believed Kovalainen's promotion was brought about by suspicions of lead driver Alonso's future departure out of Renault, thus giving the Finnish a year to prepare for his spot as the lead driver of 2007.
Renault (2007)
On the 6th of September 2006, after Alonso decided to sign with McLaren for the 2007 season, the Renault F1 team announced its driver line-up for 2007 and after years of wait, Kovalainen finally earned his first full-time seat at a Formula One car, teaming up with Giancarlo Fisichella.
Kovalainen made his debut at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix but made some "rookie mistakes" which relegated him to 10th spot at the end of the race, 5 places lower than teammate Fisi. Manager Flavio Briatore expressed his disappointment on Kovalainen's performance and hoped that he would see the "real Heikki" on the next race. The Finn put up a better showing in the Malaysian Grand Prix, scoring his first Championship point, but was still two places behind Fisi by the end of the race. Kovalainen continued his inconsistent start for the next three races, finishing 9th in Bahrain, 7th in Barcelona (outracing Fisi for the first time), and 13th in Monaco.
Kovalainen had a big chance to claim his first F1 career podium in Canada, this despite an erroneous practice session that caused damage to his rear wing. Nonetheless, the actual race brought some luck on his side and although he came up about a second late behind 3rd place Alexander Wurz of Williams, he still managed to outrace Räikkönen and Ferrari which for the Finn and the team was an unsung victory. He managed to keep up his pace in the next race at the United States Grand Prix where he managed to place 5th behind the two McLarens and the two Ferraris, once again outracing 9th place teammate Fisi.
The Finn was relegated to 15th in France after a collision with Toyota's Jarno Trulli which sent him to the pits for repairs and thus a dismal finish. Kovalainen once again outscored his teammate at the British Grand Prix when he finished in 7th place just ahead of Fisi. For the next eight Grands Prix, Kovalainen managed to outpace teammate Fisi with atleast a point in the next six races including a 6th place finish in Istanbul Park, 7th place finishes in Great Britain and Italy, and 8th place finishes in Europe, Hungary, and Belgium. He also posted his best career finish that season during that span during the Japanese Grand Prix held at Fuji Speedway where he held off Räikkönen once more to end the race in second place and his first career podium finish. He ended the Chinese GP 9th, still two places better than Fisi, and capped the season with a retirement due to accident. (Fisi also retired on collision)
Kovalainen's debut season bore 30 points, which was good for 7th place and the second best finish by a rookie that season behind Hamilton's 109 points. Fisi was a distant 8th place with 21 points.
McLaren (2008)
On the 14th of December 2007, Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes announced Kovalainen as the team's second driver to replace Alonso, opposite Hamilton. In the process, he became only the 4th Finn to sit behind the wheels of a McLaren vehicle, joining World Champion drivers Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen. His first McLaren test happened on the 9th of January 2008, joining Pedro de la Rosa at Jerez before testing with teammate Hamilton the following day. He registered a best laptime of 1:19.752 which trails Hamilton only by 0.061 seconds. He has also posted a couple of fastest laps, one at Valencia (3rd day test, 1:11.000) and one at Jerez (1:17.974) with both times recorded as the best by a V8 engine on both tracks.
Results and Records
Career Summary
| Season | Series | Team Name | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final Placing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | British Formula Renault | Fortec Motorsport | 13 | 2 | 2 | 253 | 4th |
| 2002 | British Formula 3 | Fortec Motorsport | 26 | 2 | 5 | 257 | 3rd |
| 2003 | World Series by Nissan | Gabord Competicion | 18 | 3 | 1 | 134 | 2nd |
| 2004 | World Series by Nissan | Pons Racing | 18 | 10 | 6 | 176 | 1st |
| 2005 | GP2 Series | Arden International | 23 | 2 | 5 | 105 | 2nd |
| 2007 | Formula One | Renault F1 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 7th |
| 2008 | Formula One | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes |
2004 Race of Champions Results
| Round | Opponent | Car | Time | Difference | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Coulthard | Race of Champions Buggy | 1:45.8988 | -11.905 | 1 - 0 |
| 2 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari 360 Modena | 1:48.9325 | -1.7085 | 1 - 0 |
| Semis | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari 360 Modena | 1:45.3851 | -10.9954 | 1 - 0 |
| Final | Sébastien Loeb | Peugeot 307 WRC | 1:42.2602 | -0.7977 | 1 - 0 |
| Sébastien Loeb | Ferrari 360 Modena | 1:47.4383 | -8.1459 | 2 - 0 |
Complete Formula One Results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | ING Renault F1 Team | Renault R27 | Renault RS27 2.4 V8 | AUS 10 | MAL 8 | BHR 9 | ESP 7 | MON 13 | CAN 4 | USA 5 | FRA 15 | GBR 7 | EUR 8 | HUN 8 | TUR 6 | ITA 7 | BEL 8 | JPN 2 | CHN 9 | BRA Ret | 7th | 30 | ||
| 2008 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren MP4-23 | Mercedes FO 108T 2.4 V8 | AUS | MAL | BHR | ESP | TUR | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | EUR | BEL | ITA | SIN | CHN | JPN | BRA |
References
- Heikki Kovalainen Crash.Net Profile
- Kovalainen Q&A
- Heikki Kovalainen Wikipedia
- Heikki Kovalainen: A Personable, Articulate Finnish Wild Card
