It wasn't just Lewis Hamilton who celebrated 100 Grand Prix's over the German GP weekend, Heikki Kovalainen was also celebrating the occasion.
Slightly low key, as all the media focused on the more successful Hamilton, Kovalainen went on and raced to 19th place, after a few troubles. Just as I did with Lewis, here are my top 5 Heikki Kovalainen races of his career so far.
1) Hungarian Grand Prix 2008
This is, to date, Kovalainen's only win in Formula 1. After being overshadowed by eventual 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton (also celebrating 100 GP's), Kovalainen rose from his shadow and raced his heart out. Heikki started on the front row but was powered past by Felipe Massa. Hamilton and Massa raced for half of the race, within extremely close proximity. Thanks to others misfortune, Kovalainen had raced to a quiet 3rd before Hamilton caught a puncture. This left Heikki 20 seconds behind race leader Massa, and with 3 laps to go it looked to be going the Brazilian's way. However, his Ferrari engine let go and promoted Kovalainen to the win. He managed to carve his way up the field due to others misfortune and kept his car on the road. The Finn set some fast lap times and stuck with the leaders. Despite it not being his best GP overall, his first win will always be special.
2) Japanese Grand Prix 2007
This was Heikki's debut season, and with a string of points finishes already under his belt, he was impressing. He managed to qualify in 12th position, after a difficult session. However, on race day the rain fell down. Torrential rain saturated the circuit before the start, leaving the cars trailing behind the safety car for 19 laps. Not only was it impressive that a driver in their first season did not go off track, but he managed to refrain from mistakes. As drivers dropped out, crashed or spun, Kovalainen was moving through the field and set some very competitive times in the wet. After a collision between Webber and Vettel in 2nd and 3rd, Kovalainen was promoted to a podium position. With a large amount of laps left, Heikki kept it on the island and withstood huge pressure from fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen to claim his first podium position.
3) Italian Grand Prix 2008
Kovalainen impressed in yet another wet race, when team mate Hamilton faltered. He started the race on the front row after a great, controlled qualifying lap. The race began under safety car, but pulled in on lap 2. The race saw Kovalainen unable to challenge the superior wet race pace of Vettel, but he was consistently in the top 5 of the fastest people on the track. F1 drivers show massive amounts of skill and car control, keeping their cars on track. After 53 laps of racing, Vettel crossed the line to become the youngest race winner in the history of F1, while Kovalainen took a stunning podium in awful conditions.
4) Korean Grand Prix 2011
After moving to Lotus/Caterham, Kovalainen's performances started to fade into the background. Often the unsung hero, outperforming his car, Heikki basically owned his team mate race after race. In 2011, with the team was in its "Team Lotus guise" Kovalainen made it into Q2 on the odd occasion and managed to finish ahead of faster cars. The Korean GP 201 stands out as one of those, with Heikki finishing 14th and in front of both Sauber drivers, extremely close to Bruno Senna in the Lotus Renault. Despite Heikki not being at the front of the pack, his performances further back are sure to be praised.
5) European Grand Prix 2012
Now in its Caterham guise, the CT-01 was on pace to hang on to the midfield pack. We don't see the Caterham car moving through to Q2 very often, but during this qualifying session Heikki set faster times then both Toro Rosso's and a Red Bull (though he did have a broken DRS). What is even more impressive was that Kovalainen had no KERS on a track where it benefits most, while also driving on one of the longest laps. In the race, Kovalainen benefited from retirements to move up to 14th and finished ahead of Felipe Massa's Ferrari, though he did experience problems. He also finished on the lead lap, thanks to a Safety Car.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
1) Hungarian Grand Prix 2008
This is, to date, Kovalainen's only win in Formula 1. After being overshadowed by eventual 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton (also celebrating 100 GP's), Kovalainen rose from his shadow and raced his heart out. Heikki started on the front row but was powered past by Felipe Massa. Hamilton and Massa raced for half of the race, within extremely close proximity. Thanks to others misfortune, Kovalainen had raced to a quiet 3rd before Hamilton caught a puncture. This left Heikki 20 seconds behind race leader Massa, and with 3 laps to go it looked to be going the Brazilian's way. However, his Ferrari engine let go and promoted Kovalainen to the win. He managed to carve his way up the field due to others misfortune and kept his car on the road. The Finn set some fast lap times and stuck with the leaders. Despite it not being his best GP overall, his first win will always be special.
2) Japanese Grand Prix 2007
This was Heikki's debut season, and with a string of points finishes already under his belt, he was impressing. He managed to qualify in 12th position, after a difficult session. However, on race day the rain fell down. Torrential rain saturated the circuit before the start, leaving the cars trailing behind the safety car for 19 laps. Not only was it impressive that a driver in their first season did not go off track, but he managed to refrain from mistakes. As drivers dropped out, crashed or spun, Kovalainen was moving through the field and set some very competitive times in the wet. After a collision between Webber and Vettel in 2nd and 3rd, Kovalainen was promoted to a podium position. With a large amount of laps left, Heikki kept it on the island and withstood huge pressure from fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen to claim his first podium position.
3) Italian Grand Prix 2008
Kovalainen impressed in yet another wet race, when team mate Hamilton faltered. He started the race on the front row after a great, controlled qualifying lap. The race began under safety car, but pulled in on lap 2. The race saw Kovalainen unable to challenge the superior wet race pace of Vettel, but he was consistently in the top 5 of the fastest people on the track. F1 drivers show massive amounts of skill and car control, keeping their cars on track. After 53 laps of racing, Vettel crossed the line to become the youngest race winner in the history of F1, while Kovalainen took a stunning podium in awful conditions.
4) Korean Grand Prix 2011
After moving to Lotus/Caterham, Kovalainen's performances started to fade into the background. Often the unsung hero, outperforming his car, Heikki basically owned his team mate race after race. In 2011, with the team was in its "Team Lotus guise" Kovalainen made it into Q2 on the odd occasion and managed to finish ahead of faster cars. The Korean GP 201 stands out as one of those, with Heikki finishing 14th and in front of both Sauber drivers, extremely close to Bruno Senna in the Lotus Renault. Despite Heikki not being at the front of the pack, his performances further back are sure to be praised.
5) European Grand Prix 2012
Now in its Caterham guise, the CT-01 was on pace to hang on to the midfield pack. We don't see the Caterham car moving through to Q2 very often, but during this qualifying session Heikki set faster times then both Toro Rosso's and a Red Bull (though he did have a broken DRS). What is even more impressive was that Kovalainen had no KERS on a track where it benefits most, while also driving on one of the longest laps. In the race, Kovalainen benefited from retirements to move up to 14th and finished ahead of Felipe Massa's Ferrari, though he did experience problems. He also finished on the lead lap, thanks to a Safety Car.
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