Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO.
92 Facts About Heikki Kovalainen
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Heikki Kovalainen raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and Lotus F1 teams, scoring a single victory at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix.
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Heikki Kovalainen was supported by the Renault Driver Development programme early in his racing career, during which he won the World Series by Nissan championship and finished runner-up in the GP2 series.
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Heikki Kovalainen gained his first podium by finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix that year.
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Heikki Kovalainen moved to McLaren for the 2008 season, where he partnered Lewis Hamilton.
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Heikki Kovalainen remained with the team for the 2009 season.
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Heikki Kovalainen competed in the last two races of the 2013 season for Lotus F1 as a short-notice stand-in for regular driver Kimi Raikkonen.
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In 2015, Heikki Kovalainen moved to Japan to compete in Super GT in the GT500 class with Team SARD.
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Heikki Kovalainen won the championship in his second season in the series in 2016.
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Heikki Kovalainen competed in karting from 1991 to 2000, during which time he finished runner-up in the Finnish Formula A championship in 1999 and 2000.
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Heikki Kovalainen began his car racing career in the British Formula Renault Championship, which fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen had won in 2000 before moving straight into Formula One with Sauber.
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Heikki Kovalainen finished fourth in the championship with two wins, two pole positions, five podiums and three fastest laps, earning the Rookie of the Year award.
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Heikki Kovalainen took part in the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix, where he finished eighth.
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Heikki Kovalainen attracted the support of the Renault Driver Development programme and in 2002 moved up to the British Formula 3 Championship with Fortec Motorsport who used Renault engines.
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Heikki Kovalainen became one of the most competitive drivers on the grid by the second half of the season and all five of his wins came in the final nine races.
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Heikki Kovalainen demonstrated strong form in the international non-championship rounds, with second place in Macau and fourth place at the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.
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Heikki Kovalainen continued in the series in 2004, but moved to Pons Racing, where he won the championship ahead of Tiago Monteiro, with 192 points and six wins.
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In 2005, Heikki Kovalainen entered the GP2 Series, the new 'feeder' series for F1 and the successor to Formula 3000.
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Heikki Kovalainen dominated the race in Monaco by claiming pole position, leading the race for the first 21 laps and clocking the fastest lap of the race.
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In Istanbul's feature race Heikki Kovalainen finished tenth due to engine problems, but in the sprint race held in wet conditions he returned to his winning ways.
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At Monza Arden were fast again, and Heikki Kovalainen snatched his second pole of the season and won the feature race.
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Heikki Kovalainen tested for Minardi, but Renault made him second test driver alongside Montagny for 2004.
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Heikki Kovalainen made his race debut at the Australian Grand Prix.
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Heikki Kovalainen's season got off to a rough start; he made several mistakes during the race, finishing tenth.
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Flavio Briatore felt it was a disappointing debut for the young Finn and hoped the real Heikki Kovalainen would show up next time.
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Heikki Kovalainen scored his first World Championship point in his second Grand Prix at Sepang, Malaysia, and followed this with a ninth place in Bahrain.
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Heikki Kovalainen then secured seventh place in Barcelona, outperforming teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, but finished down the order in Monaco, in 13th.
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Heikki Kovalainen crashed at the first chicane in qualifying, and damaged his rear wing significantly, and failed to make it through to the second qualifying session.
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Heikki Kovalainen had luck with the strategy and the Safety Car, and a podium was within his grasp, but he could not find a way past Alexander Wurz of Williams, who had started towards the rear of the pack.
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Heikki Kovalainen was pulling away from the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in the closing stages, which was a real confidence booster for the team.
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Heikki Kovalainen held Raikkonen off, and led the race at the end of his first stint when the cars ahead of him made their pit stops.
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Heikki Kovalainen re-joined behind Raikkonen and looked comfortable in sixth place until Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber broke down in front of him, and thus, Kovalainen finished fifth, while teammate Fisichella failed to score points.
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Heikki Kovalainen had to pit for repairs and eventually finished 15th.
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Heikki Kovalainen scored a point at both the Nurburgring and the Hungaroring, and scored three more in Turkey, with Heikki Kovalainen coming ahead of Robert Kubica.
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Heikki Kovalainen again led the Grand Prix when cars ahead of him made their pit stops.
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The gamble did not pay off, although Heikki Kovalainen held off Kubica in the closing stages to secure the final points position.
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At the start of the race Ralf Schumacher collided with Heikki Kovalainen, forcing him to pit.
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On 14 December 2007 it was confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen would replace Alonso and drive for McLaren Mercedes in 2008, alongside Lewis Hamilton.
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Heikki Kovalainen joined Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen as Finnish drivers that have driven for McLaren.
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Heikki Kovalainen overtook Fernando Alonso on the final lap, but then accidentally hit the pit lane limiter granting fourth place to Alonso, himself finishing fifth, but Kovalainen did set the fastest lap of the race.
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Heikki Kovalainen finished the race third as Hamilton faced problems in the pits, and Ferrari's Felipe Massa retired due to a spin.
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At the Spanish Grand Prix, Heikki Kovalainen had just taken the lead, when his front-left tyre suddenly deflated and his car crashed into the tyre wall on lap 22.
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Heikki Kovalainen was then taken by helicopter to a Barcelona area hospital for further tests.
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Heikki Kovalainen's final condition was a minor concussion, whilst complaining of a sore elbow and neck.
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Heikki Kovalainen apparently did not lose consciousness at any point, according to the people who assisted him at the scene, but he himself had no memory of the accident nor of giving the "thumbs-up".
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Heikki Kovalainen was released from the hospital two days later and he was able to race in Turkey.
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Hamilton's more aggressive driving style meant that he had to adopt a three-stop strategy for the race due to concerns over his tyres' durability at Istanbul Park, while Heikki Kovalainen was able to use a two-stop strategy.
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Heikki Kovalainen was able to start from the pitlane after the mechanics changed his steering wheel, and he made his way up to score a point for eighth place.
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In Montreal, Heikki Kovalainen experienced difficulties with his tyres, as they seemed to degrade much more rapidly than Hamilton's, and the team was forced to tell him to take it easy in order to avoid a puncture.
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Heikki Kovalainen finished ninth, and later described his race as a total catastrophe, suspecting the tyre issues had something to do with his driving style.
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At the French Grand Prix Heikki Kovalainen started tenth on the grid, after being docked five places for blocking Mark Webber in qualifying, and finished the race in fourth.
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At Silverstone, Heikki Kovalainen achieved his first pole position, and led the race for the first four laps, before Hamilton passed him at Stowe.
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Heikki Kovalainen won his only race at Hungary and became the 100th driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix after race leader Felipe Massa retired due to an engine failure with three laps remaining.
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Hamilton turns the car in a shorter time whereas Heikki Kovalainen is trying to make the corners more round, inadvertently causing more wear on the tyres.
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Heikki Kovalainen worked his way back up to seventh, but on the final lap had to retire due to a gearbox failure, which left him outside the points.
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Heikki Kovalainen explained his driving style was now very close to Hamilton's, as well as his car set-up.
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Hamilton hits the brakes harder and turns the car more quickly into the corner, while Heikki Kovalainen's softer driving style would be to drive with a longer curve into the corner, going easier on the brakes and accelerating halfway through the corner.
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Heikki Kovalainen was running in third when on lap 17 his car suffered an engine failure.
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Heikki Kovalainen reported the understeer on the radio, and during his first pit stop the mechanics tried to improve the situation by raising the front-wing angle.
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McLaren gradually developed the car and results began to improve, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing eighth in Germany, fifth in Hungary and his best result of the season, a fourth place at the European Grand Prix.
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Heikki Kovalainen ended the season with 22 points having had five retirements, this left him in 12th position in the championship.
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Heikki Kovalainen finished in fifteenth position in the race, two laps down on winner Fernando Alonso.
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In Malaysia, Heikki Kovalainen retired with 10 laps to go, and followed this up with fourteenth in China, while in Spain Heikki Kovalainen failed to start with gearbox problems.
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Heikki Kovalainen retired in Monaco with steering problems, and in Turkey with hydraulic problems.
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Heikki Kovalainen recovered to the pits but retired from the race.
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Heikki Kovalainen retired yet again at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix after his car caught fire in the final lap, although his decision to not go into the pit lane and instead stop at the side of the track and tackle the blaze himself was met with applause from the crowd.
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Heikki Kovalainen finished 19th in Turkey and crashed out in Spain, having started from 15th on the grid, outqualifying the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil.
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Heikki Kovalainen finished 14th in Monaco and 19th at the European Grand Prix, with further retirements in Canada and Great Britain.
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Heikki Kovalainen finished 16th at the German Grand Prix, before another retirement due to a water leak in Hungary.
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Heikki Kovalainen then finished each of the next five races, with a best placing of 13th at the Italian Grand Prix.
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Heikki Kovalainen finished on the lead lap, in 18th place at the Japanese Grand Prix, and finished ahead of the Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez in Korea, in 14th place.
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In India, Heikki Kovalainen finished 14th again, running as high as tenth place during the race.
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On 14 November 2013 it was confirmed by the Lotus F1 Team that Heikki Kovalainen would stand in for regular driver Kimi Raikkonen as Raikkonen was having back surgery.
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Heikki Kovalainen raced at the United States Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix.
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Heikki Kovalainen was linked with joining Mercedes as a test driver for 2014 and reuniting with his former McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton however it was never confirmed.
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Heikki Kovalainen competed in the 2004 Race of Champions at the Stade de France in Paris.
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Heikki Kovalainen then beat World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb in the finals using the Ferrari and a Peugeot 307 WRC car, although Kovalainen had never even sat in a rally car before, to become the first non-rally driver to win the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy and earn the title "Champion of Champions".
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Heikki Kovalainen participated in the Nations Cup alongside countryman Marcus Gronholm, but they finished in second place after Kovalainen's Ferrari 360 Modena broke down in the finals, losing to the French team of Loeb and Alesi.
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Heikki Kovalainen returned to the Race of Champions in 2005, defeating Bernd Schneider and Felipe Massa, but was then knocked out in the semi-finals by Tom Kristensen.
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Heikki Kovalainen won the Nations Cup with Gronholm in 2006, but was eliminated in the individual event at the semi-final stage by Mattias Ekstrom by a mere 0.0002 seconds.
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Heikki Kovalainen beat Vettel in the individual race, before crashing on the finish line in the next round against Andy Priaulx.
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Heikki Kovalainen crossed the line out of control, and Priaulx pipped him.
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Heikki Kovalainen returned to the event in 2010, where he withdrew after suffering a concussion in a crash after a heat race against Sebastien Loeb.
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In 2015, Heikki Kovalainen moved to Japan to compete in Super GT with Lexus.
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An initial attempt at rallying was made in 2009 to contest the Arctic Rally after being released from his "restrictive" contract with McLaren in Formula One, with Heikki Kovalainen reportedly set to drive a Proton Satria Neo S2000 rally car in the 2010 Arctic Rally; this plan ultimately never came to be as Heikki Kovalainen "did not have time to seriously prepare for the rally".
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Heikki Kovalainen would make his actual rallying debut at the same rally five years later in 2015, finishing third in his class.
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Heikki Kovalainen retired in Hokkaido but finished second in his class at the Shinshiro Rally.
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Heikki Kovalainen was supposed to compete in the Japan Rally Championship full-time in 2020, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic halted these plans; he only competed in the Chubu-Kinki Rally that year, winning the rally.
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Heikki Kovalainen announced plans to potentially compete in Rally Japan, the final round of the World Rally Championship, in a WRC2 car.
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Heikki Kovalainen will make his Extreme E debut in the 2023 season for JBXE and will be partnered with Hedda Hosas.
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In 2014, Heikki Kovalainen married his English girlfriend Catherine Hyde, with whom he has been in a relationship since 2002.
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Heikki Kovalainen plays the drums and golfs in his free time.