TheSportsCampus

28-year old Finn Heikki Kovalainen was this Monday appointed to the Lotus F1 Racing team for the 2010 season alongside Italian Jarno Trulli and Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy.

Heikki started his motor racing career karting in the early 1990's. His first recognition came with second place in the Finnish Formula A Championship in 1999 and 2000. That year also saw Heikki add the Scandinavian Championship and the Elf Masters, held 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 the 2001 Finnish Automobile Sports Federation "Rookie of the Year" award. That same year, Heikki made his F3 debut at the world renowned Macau Grand Prix, finishing 8th. In 2002 Heikki moved on to compete in the British F3 Championship, scoring an impressive five wins, three poles and three fastest laps, securing his third position in drivers' standings. He was once again given the "Rookie of the Year" award, and won the prestigious F3 support race at the British Grand Prix. He capped an impressive year by finishing second in Macau and fourth at the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.

In 2003 Heikki competed in the World Series by Nissan: a win and two poles were enough to get second place in the Championship. That same year he also made his F1 test debut, driving the Renault R23 at Barcelona and the Minardi Cosworth at Vallelunga two weeks later. 2004 brought more success for Heikki, securing the World Series by Nissan Championship. Stade de France, Paris, was the venue for the season ending Race of Champions in 2004. Alongside Marcus Gronholm, Heikki represented Finland in the Cup of Nations, where he and his team mate took the runner-up spot. However, the top step of the podium did not elude him long, with Heikki winning the coveted Champion of Champions title by beating 2004 World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb and seven times Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher in front of a packed stadium.

In 2005 Heikki moved up to GP2, taking part in the inaugural series with Arden Motorsport. His impressive development continued, finishing second overall in the series, securing five wins and two poles along the way. 2006 saw Heikki make the step up to the very pinnacle of world motorsport, replacing Frank Montagny as the Renault F1 Team's third driver. A series of impressive displays in testing saw him achieve his primary Formula 1 goal, with the announcement he had been promoted by the Renault F1 Team to a full-time race seat for the 2007 season.

Pitted against the vastly experienced Giancarlo Fisichella, Heikki enjoyed an excellent debut season in 2007, out-performing and out-scoring his team-mate, becoming second best rookie of the season after Lewis Hamilton and taking a very credible seventh place in the final Championship standings. These achievements did not go unnoticed, and in December 2007 Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes announced Heikki as team-mate to Lewis Hamilton, a position he held for the 2008 and 2009 seasons, until today's announcement of his appointment to Lotus F1 Racing. 2008 saw Heikki claim both his first pole position, at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and his first race win, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he became the 100th driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Kovalainen answered a few questions at the time of his appointment:

Q. You are entering your fourth season as a formula 1 race driver by joining a brand new team in Lotus F1 Racing - what factors were behind your decision to join the team?
HK: For me there were a couple of major factors - Tony and Mike being the two leading figures in the project, and the backing behind the team were both very important, and having spoken to both of them I became aware that the whole operation has a lot of potential, and a very good chance of being a successful team in the future. I saw Lotus F1 Racing as the best choice for me to progress my career, after considering several other options that were available to me.

Q. What have you seen of the team so far?
HK: I have visited the base of the team, as well as meeting Tony and Mike, and I can see that everyone involved is very motivated, excited and happy to be pushing this program forwards. The team has ambitious plans for the future and everyone will see Lotus F1 Racing in Bahrain GP as a professional, competitive yet very humble group of intelligent individuals.

Q. What do you think of your new team-mate Jarno?
HK: I have known Jarno for many years now and I think together we can push the team forwards very quickly, and develop our car and the team in a professional way.

Q. Do you have any specific targets for your first season with the team?
I always race to win and I will do everything as if I was preparing to put the car on pole, but of course we have to be realistic and keep the focus on developing the team to a state where we can operate like any other current top F1 team. It will not be easy and we will have tough times at the beginning, there's no question about it, but as long as we keep improving all the way through the year and have the earned respect of the other top teams on the grid, then we can be pleased about the first year.

Q. Does the Lotus name add any pressure on you or the team?
Well maybe at the beginning we will get away with some difficulties, but of course Lotus has been a winning team in the past and, like I said earlier, the team has ambitious plans to become successful, so after a little while we need to be making progress to keep the Lotus name at its current high status.