Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and Lotus F1 teams, scoring a single victory at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix. After leaving Formula One, he raced in the Japanese Super GT series between 2015 and 2021, where he won the championship in 2016. He was supported by the Renault Driver Development programme early in his racing career, during which he won the World Series by Nissan championship and finished runner-up in the GP2 series. Renault signed him on as a full-time Formula One test driver for , and then promoted him to a race seat for . He gained his first podium by finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix that year. He moved to McLaren for the season, where he partnered Lewis Hamilton. His second season in Formula One saw him achieve his first pole position at Silverstone and his first victory at the Hungaroring, becoming the 100th driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix. He remained with the team for the season. In , he moved to the newly created Team Lotus where he also remained for and , with the team renamed Caterham F1 for 2012, Kovalainen's last full season in Formula One. Although he didn't score points in the uncompetitive cars, he earned respect for outperforming drivers who were racing in similarly uncompetitive cars. Kovalainen competed in the last two races of the season for Lotus F1 as a short-notice stand-in for regular driver Kimi Räikkönen. In 2015, Kovalainen moved to Japan to compete in Super GT in the GT500 class with Team SARD. He won the championship in his second season in the series in 2016. Early career Karting (1991–2000) Born in Suomussalmi, Finland, Kovalainen's career began in kart racing, much like that of many other race car drivers. He competed in karting from 1991 to 2000, during which time he finished runner-up in the Finnish Formula A championship in 1999 and 2000. In 2000 he won the Nordic championship and the Paris-Bercy Elf Masters event, as well as finished third in the World Formula Super A Championship, leading him to be elected as the Finnish Kart Driver of the Year. Formula Renault (2001) Kovalainen began his car racing career in