Heikki Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen will be racing for Lotus during the 200 Formula One season. Born in Finland, Kovalainen made his Formula One debut in 2007 and became the 100th driver to win a Grand Prix when he came first in the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Nationality: Finnish
Date of Birth: 19/10/1981
Team: Lotus
World Championship Titles: 0
First Race: 2007 Australian Grand Prix
First Win: 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix
Car Number: 19
2009 Championship Position: 12th

Heikki Kovalainen spent 9 years driving in Kart racing before making his professional racing debut. He achieved impressive results during his teenage racing career by winning the Nordic Championships and claiming the Elf Masters.

Kovalainen’s professional racing career started in 2001 when he joined Britain’s Formula Renault series. During the next four years Kovalainen moved up through the ranks, racing in Formula 3 and the Nissan World Series, before breaking through to GP2 racing after his first championship win in 2004.

Kovalainen made his Formula One debut in 2007 when was chosen to replace Fernando Alonso at Renault. Kovalainen met with mixed success during his debut season, finishing 7th in the Drivers’ Championship but failing to make the podium.

In 2008 Kovalainen swapped places with Fernando Alonso, joining McLaren after the Spaniard’s stormy exit from the team. The Finn’s first season with McLaren saw him finish the season in 7th place for the second consecutive year. Despite Hamilton’s dominance at McLaren, Kovalainen was able to achieve his first race win, taking the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix.

2009 was a disappointing year for Kovalainen. The Finn failed to finish on the podium in a single race, finishing the year in 14th place. Towards the end of the season Kovalainen was given his marching orders by McLaren, subsequently signing for the new Lotus F1 outfit.

Formula One Rankings
Position Driver Pts
1Sebastian Vettel
(Red Bull-Renault)		392
2Jenson Button
(McLaren-Mercedes)		270
3Mark Webber
(Red Bull-Renault)		258
4Fernando Alonso
(Ferrari)		257
5Lewis Hamilton
(McLaren-Mercedes)		227
6Felipe Massa
(Ferrari)		118
7Nico Rosberg
(Mercedes GP)		89
8Michael Schumacher
(Mercedes GP)		76
9Adrian Sutil
(Force India-Mercedes)		42
10Vitaly Petrov
(Renault)		37
11Nick Heidfeld
(Renault)		34
12Kamui Kobayashi
(Sauber)		30
13Paul Di Resta
(Force India-Mercedes)		27
14Jaime Alguersuari
(Toro Rosso-Ferrari)		26
15Sebastien Buemi
(Toro Rosso-Ferrari)		15
16Sergio Perez
(Sauber)		14
17Rubens Barrichello
(Williams-Cosworth)		4
18Bruno Senna
(Renault)		2
19Pastor Maldonado
(Williams-Cosworth)		1
20Pedro de la Rosa
(Sauber)		0
21Jarno Trulli
(Lotus-Renault)		0
22Heikki Kovalainen
(Lotus-Renault)		0
23Vitantonio Liuzzi
(HRT-Cosworth)		0
24Jerome d'Ambrosio
(Virgin-Cosworth)		0
25Timo Glock
(Virgin-Cosworth)		0
26Daniel Ricciardo
(HRT-Cosworth)		0
27Narain Karthikeyan
(HRT-Cosworth)		0
28Karun Chandhok
(Lotus-Renault)		0
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