Team Lotus Drivers

[Mark H]

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN

 

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 the 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 moved to Japan to compete in the World Series by Nissan: a win and two poles were enough to earn third 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.

Driving for the Pons Team he crushed the opposition, with six wins, nine poles and ten fastest laps to his name, competing alongside Tiago Monteiro, Enrique Bernoldi and Narain Karthikeyan.

As a member of the Renault Driver Development Programme Heikki assisted with the development of Renault's Championship winning R24, adding to his growing F1™ experience.

 

Stade de France, Paris, was the venue for the season ending Race of Champions in 2004.

Alongside Marcus Gronholm, Heikki represented Finland in the Nations Cup , 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, outperforming and out-scoring his teammate, 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 the announcement of his appointment to Lotus Racing in 2009.

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.

Having joined the new Lotus Racing team in 2009, Heikki finished 20th in the 2010 season and his heroic firefighting skills at the Singapore Grand Prix earned him the coveted title LG Moment of the Year.

In 2011 Heikki will be racing in the Team Lotus colours and is aiming to take the fight to the established midfield teams.

 

 

JARNO TRULLI

 

Jarno made a fighting start to his Formula One™ career when he joined the Minardi team in 1997, but after just seven races he was asked to replace the injured Olivier Panis at Prost where he made an immediate impact.

He finished fourth in the German GP and led the Austrian GP until he was cruelly denied a sensational podium finish with an engine failure.

Nonetheless, Jarno had made his mark and stayed at the Prost team for a further two seasons.

Results were not forthcoming but he claimed his first career podium with a fine drive to second place in the wet European GP in 1999.

The result was something of a fitting farewell to his time at Prost as Jarno joined the Jordan Grand Prix squad for the new Millennium.

It was another barren period for Jarno in terms of podium results but a handful of fourth places and some sublime qualifying performances attracted the attentions of the Renault team for 2002.

His first year at the French manufacturer alongside Jenson Button did little to improve upon his previous results but in 2003, with the team’s technical department led by Mike Gascoyne, he was given a more competitive car with which to show his full potential.

Racing alongside Fernando Alonso, Jarno returned to the podium for the first time since his Prost days with third place in the German GP at Hockenheim.

The result gave Jarno renewed confidence and paved the way for Jarno’s breakthrough season in 2004.

Once again partnering Alonso, Jarno attained regular points and podium challenges before taking a breathtaking victory around the streets of Monte Carlo.

Jarno had established himself as one of the men to beat but midway through the year relations with his team had started to deteriorate and towards the end of the year he opted for a surprise switch to Toyota with whom he would stay until 2009.

In his five-and-a-bit seasons with Toyota Jarno put in some incredible performances both in qualifying and in races.

In his first full season with the team in 2005, with Mike Gascoyne at the technical helm, he was one of the Championship leaders in the early races taking Toyota’s first ever podium results in Malaysia and Bahrain.

Toyota’s competitiveness dropped off after Gascoyne’s departure from the team in 2006 and Jarno was only able to fight for occasional points finishes until a reversal of fortunes in 2008.

His scored his first podium in three years at the French Grand Prix and Toyota were one of the teams to beat in the first races of 2009.

Jarno took an incredible pole position in Bahrain but a miscalculated race strategy prevented him from converting it into the team’s maiden victory.

Nevertheless, with two podiums from the first four races and a highly competitive second place in the team’s home race in Japan, Jarno ended the season – what would be Toyota’s final in Formula 1™ – with some career-high performances.

Jarno had a tough 2010 season with Lotus Racing, with reliability issues repeatedly bringing his races to an early end.

The switch to Red Bull Technology gearbox and hydraulic systems will go a long way to eradicating those issues and will give Jarno another chance to show the world exactly why he is regarded as being one of the sport’s quickest ever one lap specialists, and a race winning driver.

 

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