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Heikki Kovalainen first attracted attention in 1999, when, aged 18, he finished 3rd in the opening round of the European Karting Championships, having already finished runner-up in the Finnish Championship.
He remained in Karting in 2000, this time winning the Finnish title, in addition to the Scandinavian crown. As well as finishing 3rd in the Monaco Kart Cup, the youngster also contested - and won - the Paris Bercy Elf Masters.
In 2001, Heikki moved up to single-seaters, contesting the British Formula Renault Championship. Two wins, two poles and three fastest laps, were enough to give him fourth place - in addition to the 'Rookie of the Year' award.
That same year, the Finn made his F3 debut, finishing 8th in Macau, and then contesting the Korea Grand Prix just a few weeks later.
The following year, the 'young gun' finished third in the British F3 Championship, with five wins, including the prestigious support race at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He also finished second in Macau, and fourth in the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.
In 2003 Heikki contested the World Series by Nissan, finishing runner-up. That year had also seen Heikki make his F1 test debut, driving the Renault R23 at Barcelona in early December and then the Minardi just a couple of weeks later.
2004 saw the Finn win the World Series title, fighting off stiff opposition from Tiago Monteiro, Enrique Bernoldi and Narain Karthikeyan.
Throughout the year, the young Finn also assisted with the development of Renault's R24, working alongside Fernando Alonso, Jarno Trulli and Franck Montagny.
Heikki attracted serious attention late in 2004 when he won Champion of Champions event at the Race of Champions. To win the title he had to beat both 2004 WRC Champion Sébastien Loeb and seven times Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher. Almost overnight, everyone knew the name Kovalainen.
2005 saw Heikki contest the new GP2 series with Arden Motorsport. However, despite leading the championship for much of the year, he was beaten 'at the wire' by Nico Rosberg. Nonetheless, the youngster had done enough to secure the role as test and reserve driver for the Renault F1 team in 2006.
Days before Renault officially named Heikki as its test driver, team boss, Flavio Briatore gave the game away, saying: "He is the future of F1."
Coming from the man who guided Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso to championship glory, this was high praise.
With Fernando Alonso heading to McLaren for 2007, there was fierce speculation throughout 2006 as to the French outfit's line-up for the new season. Though several drivers, including Kimi Raikkonen, were linked with the number one seat, there never appeared to be any doubt that Heikki would be in the second car.
In mid-June, with the French team fearing it might find itself up the proverbial creek without a paddle, it was revealed that Giancarlo Fisichella would be retained for a third season. It came as no surprise when shortly afterwards Heikki was confirmed as the team's second race driver.
Fast and intelligent much was expected of the Finn in 2007, indeed Pitpass Editor Chris Balfe predicted that the youngster would win a race in his first season.
Thankfully, editor Balfe stopped short of making one of those Bob McKenzie type wagers that might have seen him running naked around a race track, which is just as well, for the Finn's debut race was a nightmare, one to be forgotten as quickly as possible.
"I think everybody was watching on TV," said Flavio Briatore of Heikki's Melbourne weekend. "I don't need to protect anybody. It was rubbish! If I tell you it was good, I am a complete idiot. It was no good.
"When you start like that, you don't have any problem in getting better," he added. "You have plenty of space to improve."
The Finn was equally unimpressed: "My first Grand Prix was a disaster," he wrote in a column for the BBC. "The whole race was a bit of a mess and I'm going to try to forget it as quickly as possible."
Thankfully, Melbourne was the low point, and after that the Finn slowly, but surely, began to improve, taking a point at the very next race.
After the high of 2005/2006, 2007 was a great disappointment for Renault, one of the teams hardest hit by the move to a control tyre supplied by Bridgestone. Indeed, it was soon clear that far from being able to challenge McLaren and Ferrari for wins, the French outfit was no match for BMW.
As the season developed, so Heikki improved, following a fourth and fifth in North America with a string of seven finishes in the points culminating in a superb second place in Japan.
While fellow rookie Lewis Hamilton stole the headlines, Heikki got on with the job, doing the best he could - under the circumstances - and finishing seventh in the championship, one place and eleven points ahead of his highly experienced teammate, Giancarlo Fisichella.
However, this wasn't enough for the French outfit, which, with the imminent return of Fernando Alonso, opted to drop the Finn in favour of Nelson Piquet Jr. However, Heikki wasn't out of work for long, for two days after Renault announced its line-up for 2008, the Finn was named as Hamilton's teammate at McLaren.
With a full season behind him, not to mention the memories of Melbourne, Heikki goes into 2008 with the benefit of experience. Providing McLaren provides the equipment, we are sure the Finn will be challenging his illustrious teammate for wins. Let's just hope that editor Balfe never makes that wager.
Statistics - Prior to 2008 Season
Drivers' Titles: 0
Seasons in F1: 1
Grand Prix: 17
Wins: 0
Points: 30
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0
Best result in 2007: 2nd (Japan)
Best qualifying 2007: 6th (2 times)
Worst qualifying 2007: 19th (Canada)
Average grid position 2007: 10.71
2007: Out-qualified Giancarlo Fisichella 10 times
2007: Out-qualified by Giancarlo Fisichella 7 times
2007: Completed: 1023 out of 1065 laps (96.06%)
2007: Finished 16 times from 17 starts (94%)
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