DOB: 19/10/1981
Place of birth: Suomussalmi, Finland
Nationality: Finnish
Height: 1.72 m
Weight: 66 kg
Likes: Pasta, sport, girls, fast cars
Hobbies: Gym, cycling, cross-country skiing, golf
Status: single
Heroes: None

Heikki started his motor racing career karting in the early 90’s. Recognition came with finishing runner-up in the Finnish Formula A championship in 1999 and 2000. That year also saw Heikki adding the Scandinavian championship and winning the Elf Masters at Paris Bercy to his achievements earning him title of Karting Driver of the Year in his native Finland.

Heikki’s success saw him move up to the British Formula Renault Championship in 2001, bringing two wins, two poles and three fastest laps, enough to give him fourth place in the Championship plus “Rookie of the Year” award 2001 by the Finnish Automobile Sports Federation. That same year, Heikki made his F3 debut, at the Macau Grand Prix, finishing 8th.

In 2002 Heikki moved on to compete in the British F3 Championship with five wins, 3 poles and 3 fastest laps securing 3rd position in drivers’ standings, he was once again announced “Rookie of the Year”, and won the prestigious support race at the British Grand Prix. He also finished second in Macau and fourth in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.

In 2003 Heikki went to Japan to contest in the World Series by Nissan: a win and two poles were enough to get 2nd place in the Championship. That same year he also made his F1 test debut driving the Renault R23 at Barcelona and then the Minardi Cosworth during the Vallelunga test session just a couple of weeks later.

The next year saw Heikki as the 2004 World Series by Nissan champion. Driving for the Pons Team he crushed the opposition securing 6 wins, 9 poles and 10 fastest laps competing alongside Tiago Monteiro, Enrique Bernoldi and Narain Karthikeyan. As a member of the Renault Driver Development Program Heikki assisted with the development of Renault’s championship winning R24.

Stade de France, Paris, was the venue for the Race of Champions 2004. Alongside Marcus Gronholm, Heikki represented Finland for the Cup of Nations taking the runner-up spot. The top step of the podium awaited Heikki with victory over 2004 world rally champion Sebastian Loeb and 7 times world champion Michael Schumacher bringing the title Champion of Champions in front of a packed stadium, which included motor sport big names such as Max Mosley and Jean Todt.

In 2005 Heikki contested the inaugural GP2 series with Arden Motorsport, finishing second, securing 5 wins and 2 poles. Despite leading the championship for much of the season, the final race in Bahrain saw Nico Rosberg taking the title.

2005 also saw Heikki’s return to the Race of Champions to Paris. Heikki was looking good to repeat his 2004 performance when in the semi-final Tom Kristensen crossed the finish line 0.067 ahead.

Heikki replaced Frank Montagny in 2006 as Renault F1 Team third driver where he regularly tops the time sheets during F1 test days.

On 6 September 2006 the Renault F1 Team announced their driver line up for 2007. As anticipated by many F1 pundits Heikki Kovalainen became a fulltime F1 driver. During the course of the season Heikki outperformed and out-scored his experienced team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella, becoming 2nd best rookie of the season after Lewis Hamilton and taking 7th place in the final championship standing.

These achievements hovewer did not help Heikki to hold on to his seat with the Renault F1 Team for the next season, and he was freed of his contract on order to give way to a returning double world Champion Fernando Alonso and Team’s third driver Nelson Piquet Jr.

On 14 December 2007 Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes announced Heikki as a team-mate to their star driver Lewis Hamilton. Although frequently matching his team-mate for speed in the practices and quali, two years with the top team produced one win, in Hungary in 2008. By the end of the 2009 season Team McLaren chose to commit to the all-British, all-champion line up, so Heikki was left to look for another job.

Heikki found his place in the new “old” team Lotus Racing F1. The famous name is coming back into Formula 1 in 2010, and with a dream line up of experinced Jarno Trulli and fast and commited Heikki Kovalainen the team will surely is expected to fight for the regular points next season.

  • 1999 – Finnish Karting Formula A, Runner-up.
  • 2000 – Finnish Karting Formula Super A, Scandinavian Champion, Finnish Vice-Champion, Paris Bercy Elf Masters Champion, Kart Driver of the Year in Finland
  • 2001 – Formula Renault British Championship, 4th place (2 wins, 2 poles, 3 fastest laps, best rookie) 8th in Macau F3 Grand Prix (First F3 race), “Rookie of the Year” by the Finnish Automobile Sports Federation
  • 2002 – Formula 3 British Championship, 3rd place (5 wins, 3 poles, 3 fastest laps, best rookie), Winner of the British Grand Prix Support Race, 2nd place in Macau Grand Prix, 4th place in Marlboro Masters (Zandvoort)
  • 2003 – World Series by Nissan, 2nd place (1 win, 2 poles), Test drive Renault R23 (Barcelona), Test drive Minardi F1 Team (Vallelunga)
  • 2004 – World Series by Nissan 2004, Champion (6 wins, 9 poles (new championship record)), 10 fastest laps), Second test driver for the Renault F1 Team. Winner of the Race of Champions at Stade De France, Paris
  • 2005 – GP2 Series championship, runner-up (Arden Motorsport) 5 wins, 2 poles, 105 points.
  • 2006 – 3rd driver for the RenaultF1 Team.
  • 2007 – Formula 1, ING Renault F1 Team: the first podium – 2nd in the Japanese GP, 30 points, 7th place.
  • 2008 – Formula 1, Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 1 pole position, 1 win, 51 points, 7th position.
  • 2009 – Formula 1, Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: 22 points, 12th position.
  • 2010 – Formula 1, Team Lotus Racing F1.