Heikki Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen is a Finnish racing driver who competed in Formula 1.25. He is a two time F1.25 World Champion as he won the 2008 season in his rookie year and successfully defended his title the year afterwards.

Racing career
Kovalainen raced in lower categories in his early career, coming second in GP2 series in 2005.

2007
Kovalainen moved to F1.5 in 2007, he had a some good results which led to him being signed by McLaren to compete in F1.25 for the next season.

2010–2013
Kovalainen, after winning back-to-back championships in F1.25 returned to F1.5 hoping he could win a title in this series. He joined Lotus for 2010 and 2011, but the Lotus team was uncompetitive and the two time F1.25 World Champion's results with the team didn't rise above simple mediocrety.

Kovalainen stayed for another year with Lotus, now renamed Caterham. Unfortunately the car and team were again not competitive and Kovalainen again did not score a podium in the F1.5 season.

Kovalainen lost out on his seat for 2013, but he made a brief comback as he returned with Lotus F1.5 Team for the final 2 races of the season.

2008
Kovalainen made his début in the 2008 with McLaren at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, which he won after starting on pole, setting the fastest lap and leading every lap making him the first and only driver to achieve a "Grand Chelem" on début. Kovalainen repeated this feat at the 2008 Malaysian Grand Prix and again at the 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Kovalainen took quite a hit in the next race, the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix. He had a big crash on lap 21 which was caused by a wheel rim failure. The championship leader still won the race though.

Kovalainen was able to return for the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix, he didn't have his strongest weekend, but still won. He won again at the 2008 Monaco Grand Prix, in Canada and France.



Kovalainen had a very strong qualifying at the 2008 British Grand Prix to get his ninth pole position of the season, he struggled in the wet race, but he still won and thus clinched the 2008 F1.25 World Championsip. More wins followed at the German Grand Prix, in Hungary after a very strong race in and in Valencia saw him extend his lead even more.

Kovalainen also won in Spa-Francorchamps despite him retiring from the race with 1 lap to go after a problem with his gearbox. Kovalainen then won the rainy 2008 Italian Grand Prix and the first edition of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Kovalainen won in Japan after an engine problem on lap 16. Another retirement followed in China, but this time, Kovalainen was awarded 10 points as he had completed more than 50% of the race distance. Kovalainen finished a superb season off with a win at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix in tricky conditions.

2009
Kovalainen entered the 2009 season as the reigning champion and won it.

Complete Formula 1.25 results
† Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified.