Heikki Kovalainen

Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (born 19 October 1981 in Suomussalmi, Kainuu, Finland) is a Finnish racing driver, who finished as runner-up to Nico Rosberg in the inaugural 2005 FIA GP2 Series. Notable as the first driver to win a GP2 Series race, Kovalainen would leave GP2 at the end of 2005, becoming a test/reserve driver for Renault F1.

Kovalainen signed with Arden International for the 2005 season, and was noted as one of the favourites after pre-season testing. The Finn would go on to lead the Championship for most of the season, winning the season opening Imola Feature Race, only to slip behind Rosberg in the final three rounds, finishing second.

After leaving GP2, Kovalainen would enjoy a seven year career in Formula One, becoming the 100th Grand Prix winner with his one and only victory. After losing his race seat in 2013 the Finn would go on to race in Super GT in Japan, winning the 2016 championship in partnership with Kohei Hirate.

Background
Kovalainen began his career in karting in his native Finland, racing from the age of nine until his late teens. Winning the Nordic Championship in 2000, Kovalainen moved into Formula Renault 2.0 UK for 2001, following fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen who had won the 2000 Championship. A strong rookie season saw Kovalainen claim two wins and fourth overall in the Championship, with the Finn also taking part in the Macau Grand Prix.

Renault Reinforcement: 2002 - 2004
After his FR exploits Kovalainen was signed to the Renault Driver Development Programme, who placed Kovalainen in the British Formula 3 Championship for 2002. A strong season saw Kovalainen finish third overall and the best placed rookie in the field, while also claiming second in the Macau Grand Prix. For 2003 Renault moved the Finn into the w:c:motorsport:World Series by Nissan, placing Kovalainen alongside fellow Renault supported driver Franck Montagny.

Montagny went on to claim his second WS title in 2003, while Kovalainen claimed a single victory to finish as a distant runner-up. A change of team for 2004 saw Kovalainen again emerge as a title pretender, with the Finn ultimately going on to claim his first major junior title with six victories.

GP2 Series History
Kovalainen's WS triumph in 2004 saw the Finn get formally adopted into the Renault F1 team, becoming a reserve driver alongside Montagny. The Finn would also take a seat in the inaugural 2005 FIA GP2 Series, with Arden International signing him up alongside Nicolas Lapierre in two Red Bull liveried cars. Assigned with #22 as his race number, Kovalainen was considered a pre-season favourite for the inaugural GP2 title, and would duly go on to claim an impressive debut victory at the first race in Imola.

Post GP2 Series Career
Kovalainen was promoted to serve as Renault's main test/reserve driver for the 2006 season, meaning he would move away from GP2 at the end of 2005. In 2007 the Finn would be promoted into a full race seat, although he was dropped at the end of the season to be replaced by Fernando Alonso. He would, however, replace Alonso at McLaren for 2008, and duly supported Lewis Hamilton as the Brit claimed his maiden F1 Championship.

2008 would also see Kovalainen make history as the 100th driver to win a Grand Prix in F1 history, claiming his only career win at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Retained for 2009, Kovalainen would not match the heights of 2008, and duly left the team to join the new Lotus Racing entry in 2010. The Finn remained with Lotus through its evolution into Caterham, until the end of 2012, with the Finn failing to score a point at all in his final three seasons.

Japanese Dreams: 2014 - 2020
After a couple of one-off races in F1 in 2013 at the confusingly named Lotus F1 Team, Kovalainen ended his F1 career, instead taking a test/reserve role in the DTM with BMW. In 2015 the Finn joined the factory Lexus team in Super GT in Japan, who partnered him with fellow GP2 graduate Kohei Hirate. After spending a season getting used to the series, Kovalainen would rediscover his pre-2010 form, with himself and Hirate going on to claim the 2016 Super GT title in the GT500 class.

Kovalainen continued on in Super GT after his title winning campaign, and would transfer to the factory Toyota team when they replaced Lexus in the series in 2020.

Full GP2 Series Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in the GP2 Series in statistical form.

GP2 Series Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their GP2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full GP2 Series record.