Kovalainen: his stint at Lotus certainly cost him a regular place in 2014!

Heikki Kovalainen finds himself on the sidelines once again at the start of 2014. The Finnish driver, who has raced for Renault, McLaren, and finally Caterham, has not managed to secure a full-time seat since his dismissal from the Malaysian team at the end of the 2012 season.

Faced with obvious financial difficulties, Tony Fernandes’s team had chosen to part ways with the Finn, as well as his experienced teammate Jarno Trulli a year earlier, to turn to drivers with financial backing such as Charles Pic or Giedo Van der Garde. Nevertheless, Kovalainen remained in Caterham’s close circle, even participating in a few Friday practice sessions to help develop the car.

When the opportunity for a full-time position at Lotus-Renault arose for the last two Grand Prix of 2013, replacing the absent Kimi Räikkönen, Kovalainen did not hesitate to take on the challenge. However, the Finnish driver’s results did not necessarily meet the expectations placed on him, and the adventure with the Enstone team ended on a rather negative note with two 14th place finishes.

In contention for a seat behind a Caterham wheel in 2014, these two underperformances in the race seem to have weighed in on the decision-making, as confirmed by Tony Fernandes: « Honestly, we would be lying if we said that it didn’t influence our choice. It’s a mix of many factors, but for every decision, there are pros and cons. I am egalitarian. I faced the team and there were pro-Kamui and pro-Heikki… I had to make a choice. We have to move forward, we have to be a bit cold if we want to succeed. »

It would seem that the adventure between Kovalainen and Caterham, which has been ongoing since the team’s creation in 2010, is definitively over.