Kovalainen: Out of the shadows into the light

He was set to be the next big thing, then Lewis Hamilton stole his thunder. Now Heikki Kovalainen is tipped to join him at McLaren. By STEVE COOPER

How does a rookie Formula 1 driver perform in the shadow of Lewis Hamilton? It's the unenviable question facing not just this year's current crop of F1 newcomers, but also the youngsters who'll arrive in the sport over the next decade. It's clear that every grand prix debutant must now generate huge and immediate hype if they are to justify their survival in the sport.

Doubtless it was also the question Heikki Kovalainen was asking himself back in early spring, as he watched Hamilton cantering towards his maiden grand prix win, and figured his own career momentum was running on vapours as he struggled to justify his existence as Fernando Alonso's replacement at Renault.

At the beginning of the year, after all, Kovalainen was the man expected to make the bigger splash. Armed with a finessed version of last year's world championship-winning chassis and partnered against Giancarlo Fisichella, a team- mate whom few expected to offer strong resistance to the Finnish challenge, 2007 was meant to be the year when a rookie was seriously expected to jump in and immediately battle for the world title. Of course, none of this was necessarily wrong. It was just... different.

When Hamilton arrived fresh-faced and wide-eyed in Albert Park and finished third on his grand prix debut, the ambition and reach of an F1 rookie suddenly felt limitless. By contrast, Kovalainen struggled with the tricky R27 chassis, failed to dent team-mate Fisichella's lap times, suffered a few rookie spins and finished a less glamorous 10th. With perceptions counting for so much in F1, the Finn's card was already clearly marked. And, if anything, it was that immediate assumption of his abilities that he has spent much of the year attempting to shake off.

It has been an uneven and difficult task. For while Hamilton arrived in F1 armed with a rocket ship in the form of the sleek MP4-22, Kovalainen was handed a damp squib - a maladjusted chassis that not only lacked pace but was also highly unpredictable, shifting balance from corner to corner, lap to lap. It was hardly the sort of dependable platform a rookie needed with which to learn his trade, to progressively push the limits as the season wore on.

On a high: second place at a sopping-wet Fuji concluded an impressive seven-race points-scoring run © LAT

"Over the winter, all the windtunnel figures told us the car would be sorted," says Kovalainen, recalling that disappointing beginning to his grand prix career. "Lap times were not too bad in testing either, so we weren't too worried. But we arrived in Melbourne and were surprised how far from the front we were. We thought we were there or thereabouts, certainly not too far away, so the opening race was a real shock for us. And it meant we had to quickly start understanding what was going on."

For a team that had imagined itself to still be world championship material, it was an unexpected wake-up call. And as Ferrari and McLaren motored off into the distance, Renault got down to work and started the distinctly unglamorous task of tackling the deep-seated foibles of R27.

While Kovalainen never lost confidence in his abilities, it was a dispiriting and uncertain time. His arrival in F1 had been less than stellar and whispers were growing louder that Renault's slump was directly linked to Alonso's departure and Kovalainen's arrival.

"It was important for me to stay focused during those months," he says. "As a rookie driver, and especially after such a disastrous first race, many people were pointing the finger at me saying, 'He's the problem. He's not doing things like Fernando used to.' So it was very difficult, and important for me to focus at that point."

Was it made harder because he also had to deal with the constant comparisons to Hamilton? "Yeah, but what could I do?" he says matter-of-factly. "That was our situation; he got into a car that was immediately competitive whereas our car was not as good as we thought it would be. Last autumn, when I signed the contract, I thought I would have a chance to fight for the championship and I really wanted to be doing the job that Lewis is doing now - but it's been different. It hasn't bothered me too much though - that day will come for me."

In the meantime, the team knuckled down, poring over the tiniest of details in an attempt to cure the R27's imbalance. By the time the engineers has sussed that a rogue element around the front end was causing inaccurate windtunnel data, it was too late to repair much of the damage.

While Renault still worked hard, slowly bringing performance from the car (notably a new front wing concept in Monte Carlo that caused a significant upswing in fortunes), the team found it hard to gather up the momentum lost to its rivals. As such, even greater scrutiny was paid to Kovalainen's efforts - with the result that both he and his engineers concluded that he'd need to give more of himself if they were to ever snatch back any of the season's lost ground.

"Last year's car was much easier to use," he explains. "During the tests we could just bolt on a new set of tyres and always be fairly competitive. That meant there was no need to have hugely detailed debriefs. But this year I realised I had to work a little bit more. At first I probably didn't appreciate that Fisi had been in that type of situation before, and he quickly realised he needed to work a bit more. Because it was my first year I needed a bit of a kick in the butt. So I changed the way I worked and started to get more involved with the engineers - they saw that I could do more."

Team boss Briatore quashed rumours about Kovalainen being replaced mid-season by Nelson Piquet JR © LAT

And at that moment something was triggered deep inside Kovalainen. At first it was invisible to the naked eye, and he went into the summer's North American double-header with the axe swinging over his head. The fact that team boss Flavio Briatore had third driver Nelson Piquet Jr on stand-by and ready to blood at a moment's notice, and with votes of support seemingly flooding in from the entire Brazilian racing community, things didn't look positive for Kovalainen.

"It was difficult to hear those rumours," he admits. "So I spoke to Flavio and said, 'What's going on? Is it true you want to get rid of me now and change the driver?' He told me it absolutely wasn't true. Of course, Flavio is never happy - that's just the way he is - but I have no problem with him being like that. I believe what he tells me and I don't have any problem being with him."

With his self-confidence reignited, and a strong fourth place in Canada, he gained a crucial result to silence the doubters and prove that he was a worthy, feisty and steadfast racer - at long last. Since then a rolling momentum has made it progressively harder to ignore Kovalainen. Not only has he finished every race this year, but runner-up spot in the rain-lashed Japanese Grand Prix concluded an impressive seven-race points-scoring run.

Of course, that speed has thrown up further problems. Evidently faster than Fisichella, as recent results testify, his place at Renault for 2008 would seem assured, wouldn't it? But with the paddock's wise money being staked on Alonso's return to the French squad, it wouldn't make sense to partner the agitated world champion against a super-fast Finn. For Alonso it would doubtless be more of the same - out of the frying pan and into the fire - if he were paired with Kovalainen. And that's probably why it won't happen.

"I know where I stand against Alonso," says Heikki, referencing his testing duties last year. "I did the job in testing that they asked of me. I know I can do the job this year as well but the car has not been how I want it; I haven't been able to feel it properly. But, like I said, I've never lost the confidence in myself. And I think the team chose me for this season because I was as fast as Alonso."

So after a year working alongside the Spaniard in 2006, how does Kovalainen view Alonso's incendiary season at McLaren? "Fernando's got very strong determination and a clear goal every time he gets in the car," he says. "He always wants to win. But he's a very clever guy; he can set up the car, manage the race, talk to his engineers and decide the pitstops and tyres. He gives clear instructions to the team. He's very switched on, very much the leader.

"So I've been surprised by this season. I don't think he loses his temper - sometimes he raises his fist in the cockpit, but he doesn't get out of control. The mistakes we've seen this year have been when he's not 100 per cent happy with his car. He's been in a situation where he's had to fight more than usual. Normally he doesn't make mistakes and can extract 100 per cent from himself from start to finish."

As Heikki speaks, you can see that the way he operates isn't a million miles away from Alonso territory. And it's this strength, determination and ability to bounce back that have earned him interest from several quarters. In the late summer, both Toyota and Williams were reportedly keen; now it's the turn of McLaren - seemingly resigned to the fact that it will lose Alonso - to come sniffing.

New front wing introduced for Monaco helped Renault's progress, but Heikki also realised he had to dig a lot deeper © LAT

"Whether it's with Renault or elsewhere, I feel confident I will be in F1 next year," he says. "I'm not too worried about that. I don't know what other people are doing but I hope whoever my team-mate is he'll be competitive and good."

Hamilton and Kovalainen, maybe? It's a tantalising prospect that would suit McLaren, with its knowledge of the Finnish temperament, down to the ground. On paper you can't argue with the idea: indeed, Kovalainen could be another Mika Hakkinen. Compliant, hard-working, polite, cheeky, well-presented, super-smooth and devastatingly fast, it's certainly no stretch to see him decked out in a set of silver overalls standing alongside Lewis Hamilton at the glitzy launch of MP4-23 next January.

At the moment Ron Dennis asserts that there will be no discussion about drivers until the end of the season - which is about as good an admission as you will get that there need to be discussions about the future. But even if Dennis came knocking, Kovalainen would have to decide if he would be happy playing back-up to the sport's newest superstar. Sure, he could nestle happily beneath Dennis's protective wing - that's the way Ron likes to go racing with his youngsters - but would he sit happily in the McLaren camp?

Well, if Heikki were employed as Lewis's wingman, he would also be given a car capable of winning races and titles - and that's all this ambitious and confident young Finn wants at the moment. Pure gut feeling tells you it's a partnership that would produce some spectacular results.