Heikki Kovalainen interview: Racing against Hamilton, beating him at golf, and winning in Hungary

Read time: 12 minutes

As far as teammates go, it doesn’t get much tougher than Lewis Hamilton. But he didn’t have it all his own way alongside Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren. There was one area where the Finn consistently held the upper hand.

"Most of the time, I beat him on the golf course," Heikki says, grinning, during an exclusive interview with McLaren. "Unfortunately, he would beat me on the racetrack. I'd happily reverse those roles if I could - give him the golf and I’ll take his racing achievements. That would be a better deal for me."

Heikki spent two memorable seasons alongside Lewis at McLaren between 2008 and 2009, fulfilling a boyhood dream. A lifelong fan, he’d been hooked from the moment he watched his fellow Finn Mika Häkkinen stun the paddock by outqualifying Ayrton Senna on his McLaren debut.

It’s why, when he was approached by McLaren about a seat for 2008, he did everything he could to make it happen - despite having already agreed to join Toyota.

"Flavio Briatore, [Heikki’s manager, and also the Renault Team Principal] told me that I would need to call Toyota’s boss John Howett and tell him myself," he says. "We had agreed that I would join Toyota, but we hadn’t signed anything. I called John, and I said, ‘I’m really, really sorry, but there’s a seat available at McLaren, and I really want to go there.’ He understood completely, and told me that I should go for it."

Coming off a promising second half of the season with Renault - he had steered a tricky car to seven points finishes, including a podium in Japan, across the final nine races - Heikki was surprisingly a free agent.

Nelson Piquet Jr. had been promoted in his place, alongside the returning Fernando Alonso. Although the Spaniard’s departure had opened up a seat at McLaren, Heikki wasn’t expecting a call, and instead, lined up a move to Toyota, who had just finished sixth.

But then his phone rang.

What followed was a whirlwind 48 hours. After letting down Toyota, he headed for the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking without any guarantees of a drive. By the end of the day, a deal had been wrapped up, and he left with a huge smile on his face.

"McLaren had been my favourite team since I was young. I’d never had any aspirations to go to Ferrari, as many drivers did, so when there was an opportunity to join McLaren, I had to go for it."

It was a move that made sense for all parties. Beyond the emotional pull of joining his boyhood team, there was the logical draw to McLaren, who had narrowly missed out on the World Championship in 2007.

It was the latest in a decade strewn with close calls. McLaren were consistently at the front, but were without a title since 1999. 2007 had been their closest near-miss yet – Lewis and Fernando lost out by just one point, due in part to their intense rivalry, which had, on more than one occasion, boiled over.

It was hoped that Heikki’s calmer persona could help soften the atmosphere and cultivate a more collaborative culture, while still pushing Lewis on track.

"I felt like I would fit in at McLaren very well. I had always been very organised, and Ron Dennis [Team Principal] was known for this – the McLaren Technology Centre was like a space centre – it was always clean, always organised.

"The attention to detail and the professionalism were like nothing I had ever seen. It was a proper, hardcore racing team. But I could feel that there were some sore areas at the time – the team had been split into two halves, and that was something they wanted to change. They wanted to unite the team, and they felt like I could help to do that. I don’t play politics, and I had shown some speed through my junior years."

Alongside Ferrari’s F2007, the MP4-22 had been the class of the field. Few doubted the MP4-23 would follow suit.

"I very clearly remember when they fired up the engine for the first time," he says, casting his mind back to his first test with the team. "The Renault felt really, really smooth, whereas, when the Mercedes engine was first fired up, everything was vibrating. Wow. It felt really racy and a little rough - more like a rally car than a Formula 1 car."

Everything was unfolding exactly as he had imagined.

"It was a great feeling," he says.

Fans instantly took to the likeable Finn, who became the fourth driver from the Nordic nation to race for McLaren, following in the wheel tracks of Keke Rosberg, Mika, and Kimi Räikkönen. Inside the factory, his humble, hard-working demeanour endeared him to a team who shared his meticulous nature and love of structure and organisation.

After a tumultuous 2007 season, Heikki and Lewis’ relationship was a welcome change. The pair clicked almost instantly, sharing a similar philosophy and passion for racing.

"Our relationship was always good – it still is to this day," he says. "I have always been on friendly terms with him and his family. When I first signed with McLaren, he was the first person to call and welcome me to the team.

"I remember once in Abu Dhabi, we went to play golf in the morning, had lunch together, and then we raced the Grand Prix in the afternoon – what a dream day. We both enjoyed golf in those days – we used to play when we lived in Geneva."

But Heikki hadn’t been recruited solely for his cultural fit. After a promising rookie season, there was pressure on him to perform. Expectations were high, but having risen through the ranks at Renault, he knew nothing else.

"I was used to a competitive and tough environment from my time at Renault," he says. "It had been a good school. So when I joined McLaren, the pressure and expectation didn’t come as a surprise.

"The culture was different, though. There were more meetings, and McLaren were a little more data-driven. At Renault, we would talk more about how it felt, whereas at McLaren, data was always used to support a driver’s comments. If there were any conflicts, we would also look at the data to make a decision."

He very nearly got off to the perfect start. Immediately quick in the season opener, Heikki topped Q1 on his way to P3 on the grid, and was leading the race in Australia before an unfortunately timed Safety Car derailed his strategy.

Another strong showing in Malaysia the next time out saw him rise from eighth to third for his first podium. He was up and running. Two rounds later in Spain, he was leading once again when a puncture sent him heavily into the barriers.

While there was room for improvement, it had been a largely positive start - one that could have produced a victory were it not for circumstances outside his control. He carried over the momentum with a brilliant maiden Pole at Silverstone, before securing that first win in Hungary to become Formula 1’s 100th Grand Prix victor.

"If there was ever going to be a race that was considered to be a home Grand Prix for a Finnish driver, it would be Hungary – it’s the race where most Finns will go to watch, it’s always full of Finnish flags,” he says, recalling his triumph at the Hungaroring.

"Three laps from the end, I saw what I thought was a Toro Rosso – I had already lapped one, and I thought this was the other, but then when I drove past the car, it was the Ferrari of Felipe Massa. Steve [Hallam, a senior McLaren engineer] came on the radio and said, ‘You're leading the race now, three laps to go’. There were no other messages. I knew I had a gap behind me. I knew I could bring it home. I didn’t feel nervous, I knew that it was going to be my race… so long as nothing broke.

"It was an incredible moment to win a Grand Prix with McLaren. You always dream of winning a Formula 1 race. It was just before the summer break, and I flew to Geneva with Mansour Ojjeh to have dinner at his place.

"The next day, I flew to Finland for some fitness training before going on holiday. It was in one of the Olympic training centres, and I remember going to breakfast there on the Tuesday morning. The figure skating teams were in there, and they started singing congratulations songs to me while I was picking out my breakfast, getting my porridge and my bread!"

Hungary would, unfortunately, serve as Heikki’s high point with McLaren. Generally competitive in Qualifying, Heikki struggled to replicate that form in race trim. A third podium followed in Italy, but he faded somewhat towards the end of 2008, while his teammate charged towards the title.

"Tough guy to beat," he laughs. "I figured that out quite quickly. I was able to push him in Qualifying, and generally, I think he had to stretch."

Heikki outqualified Lewis nine times across their two seasons together and was often right alongside him on Saturdays. Sundays proved harder, though he still finished ahead of him on seven occasions.

Several theories were put forward to explain that contrast, which likely combined to contribute, but Heikki says they never truly got to the bottom of it.

"We never really found a definite answer," he says. "I was often able to match Lewis through the high-speed corners, which was a strong area of mine. Silverstone, for example, [where he took Pole], is a very high-speed circuit, and I always felt very confident and comfortable there.

"I was never really able to match Lewis in braking, though – he was incredible at that. He was able to brake later, stop the car at the apex at the same speed, and accelerate straighter out of the corners. I think that helped him look after the tyres better than I could.

"My Race Engineer, Mark Slade, said my driving style reminded him of Fernando Alonso, Kimi, and Mika in how we carried speed into corners with smooth, rounded lines. Lewis’ style was quite unique – a little different, but very efficient.

"If I had tried his setup, I wouldn’t have been able to turn the car - it would understeer too much. Mine had a lot of front grip, and that helped in Qualifying on new rubber, but in the races, carrying speed through rounded lines took a lot out of the tyres, which hurt my rears over a longer stint."

Significant rule changes for 2009 saw a shift in fortunes for McLaren. In a car that proved tough to drive, Heikki’s confidence took a hit. After managing just five points finishes across the opening nine rounds, the team worked tirelessly at the factory to turn the tide, delivering a suite of major upgrades. Within two races of getting the package, Lewis drove a revitalised MP4-24 to victory in Hungary, but Heikki never quite regained his footing.

"We actually had very high hopes for the car going into 2009 before we got out onto the track, but it turned out to be a completely different story," he says. "The start of the season was tough, and the car was way off.

"In the second half of the season, the car was competitive, and Lewis won races with it, but I couldn’t find the performance. There was also noise around that time about whether I would keep my seat.

"Things started to become a bit difficult from there, and the pressure was getting to me. Rather than focusing on my own performances, I was trying too hard to be faster than Lewis."

McLaren signed freshly minted World Champion Jenson Button for 2010 to form a double act with Lewis that was later dubbed the ‘British Dream Team’, drawing a close to Heikki’s time in Woking.

"The beginning of my story with McLaren was a dream come true," he says, reflecting on his time with the team. "How it ended was sad and tough, and I thought that maybe it was going to be the end of my Formula 1 career. But then I joined Lotus and went on to drive for Caterham, and my performances improved again.

"I look back on that now and realise you shouldn’t stress so much. When you’re at a team like McLaren, you should enjoy the opportunity and make the most of it. During my later years in F1, I was able to do that."

Now 44, Heikki remains active in the world of rally and is a regular in the F1 paddock as a pundit and analyst, recently joining us for our 1000^th Grand Prix celebrations at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he featured in a commemorative photograph on the grid.

"When McLaren are doing well, it always puts a smile on my face," he says. "The team is completely different, and I don’t recognise many faces, but they are in a really great position, and I am very happy to see that. It’s nice to have been a part of that family."