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101-790: It has been competing since 1997 and has raced in the Formula 3000 International Championship , the Italian Formula 3000 series , and the A1 GP series for Great Britain . Due to the Arden's strong business connections and sponsorship, the team often signs Red Bull Junior Team drivers as a way to pave forward future F1 drivers. Many drivers have been Red Bull Juniors, including Michael Ammermüller , Neel Jani , Filipe Albuquerque , Sébastien Buemi , António Félix da Costa , Daniil Kvyat , Carlos Sainz, Jr. , Dan Ticktum , Jack Doohan and Dennis Hauger . The team

202-399: A Barcelona area hospital for further tests. His final condition was a minor concussion, whilst also complaining of a sore elbow and neck. Kovalainen apparently did not lose consciousness at any point, according to the people who assisted him at the scene, but he himself had no memory of the accident nor of giving the "thumbs-up". The first thing he remembered was waking up at the hospital and

303-822: A 16th-place finish in China . He finished 19th in Turkey and crashed out in Spain , having started from 15th on the grid, outqualifying the Force Indias of Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil . He finished 14th in Monaco and 19th at the European Grand Prix , with further retirements in Canada and Great Britain . Kovalainen finished 16th at the German Grand Prix , before another retirement due to

404-468: A crash during the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps Formula 2 feature race . On 23 September 2019 Arden announced that Artem Markelov will return to the F2 series to run at Sochi and Abu Dhabi. He would be running the 22 car since the 19 was retired for the season in honor of Hubert. However the team will not race for the 2020 season , and instead will be replaced by HWA Racelab . Arden announced they would expand into

505-569: A deal with Horner that Prodrive would take a 50% stake in Arden, in return for Horner becoming team manager. As a result, the team signed Viktor Maslov as a driver under the Lukoil deal from 1999 . The team started off poorly, and didn't have the pace to qualify for many races. At the end of 1999, Richards sold a stake in Prodrive to Apax Partners , who didn't want to continue in F3000. Horner hence exercised

606-638: A longer curve into the corner, going easier on the brakes and accelerating halfway through the corner. Since the McLaren was harder on the tyres than the Renault and the Bridgestones were not quite as robust as the Michelins , that driving style now led to excessive tyre degradation. In Japan Kovalainen qualified third behind Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen . During the initial tussle between Hamilton and Räikkönen, Kovalainen

707-459: A one-stop strategy while his challengers for the rear end of the points were all on two-stop strategies, which included the BMW's of Heidfeld and Kubica (who was docked ten places down the grid due to an engine change), Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber . A good start from Kovalainen saw him become a mobile chicane for all of them except Webber. The gamble did not pay off, although Kovalainen held off Kubica in

808-609: A race. Three past F3000 champions have won an F1 Grand Prix: Alesi, Panis and Montoya (who also won the Indy 500 ). Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen ( Finnish pronunciation: [ˈhei̯kːi ˈkoʋɑlɑi̯nen] ; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing and rally driver , who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2013 . Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix with McLaren . In sportscar racing , Kovalainen won Super GT in 2016 with SARD . Kovalainen

909-551: A significant advantage. In the early years of the formula there was much concern about safety, with a high number of accidents resulting in injuries to drivers. There was one fatality in the International Championship - Marco Campos in the final round of the 1995 series. Formula 3000 races during the "open chassis" era tended to be of about 100–120 miles in distance, held at major circuits, either headlining meetings or paired with other international events. The "jewel in

1010-517: A single point and was replaced by António Félix da Costa who had also replaced him at the Junior Programme too. On his debut, Da Costa scored two points with a ninth-place finish during the first race at the Nürburgring . Jack Doohan , Dennis Hauger , Patrik Pasma and Sebastian Priaulx were Arden's drivers in the 2018 championship . Across the season, the team claimed eleven wins and claimed

1111-555: A single race victory. For the 2010 main series , the team kept Pic and resigned González. However, the success from the Asia Series did not quite continue into the main series as the team eventually finished seventh with one win, courtesy of Pic. Arden finished with fewer points than in 2009 , but still managed to beat the previous teams' championship result of eighth position. For the 2011 GP2 Asia Series and 2011 GP2 Main Series seasons,

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1212-425: A single win. For the 2009–10 Asia Series, Arden signed Charles Pic and Rodolfo González . After the first round, González was replaced by Javier Villa for the rest of the season. This was the team's most successful outing in the Asia Series, with an end result of 37 points and second in the teams' championship. Villa finished fourth overall in the drivers' championship with 19 points, and Pic finished fifth with

1313-413: A straight-six short-stroke BMW. This was converted into a sports car, however. The series saw occasional controversy. Definitive rules for the 1985 season did not appear until the championship was well under way. In 1987 questions were asked about the ability of some of the drivers, given the high number of accidents in the formula. In 1989 the eligibility of the new Reynard chassis was challenged, as it

1414-409: A three-stop strategy for the race due to concerns over his tyres' durability at Istanbul Park, while Kovalainen was able to use a two-stop strategy. Kovalainen qualified in second place, but suffered a puncture during a fight with Kimi Räikkönen in the first corner and dropped back to finish the race in 12th place. More disappointment was to follow in Monaco when a software glitch stalled his car on

1515-516: A total catastrophe, suspecting the tyre issues had something to do with his driving style. At the French Grand Prix Kovalainen started tenth on the grid, after being docked five places for blocking Mark Webber in qualifying, and finished the race in fourth. At Silverstone , Kovalainen achieved his first pole position, and led the race for the first four laps, before Hamilton passed him at Stowe. Despite two spins due to losing grip on

1616-666: A water leak in Hungary . Kovalainen then finished each of the next five races, with a best placing of 13th at the Italian Grand Prix . He also finished on the lead lap, in 18th place at the Japanese Grand Prix , and finished ahead of the Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez in Korea , in 14th place. In India , Kovalainen finished 14th again, running as high as tenth place during

1717-469: A win till the end of the series under the GP2 moniker. From 2010 onwards, they have operated a GP3 Series team with Mark Webber , the team was called MW Arden. The team signed Michael Christensen , Miki Monrás and Leonardo Cordeiro for their debut season. Their first venture into the new series proved difficult as they only accumulate 18 points for the whole season with 2 fastest laps, leaving them 9th in

1818-483: The 2007 season, and Renault elected to promote Kovalainen in his place, which they confirmed on 6 September 2006. Team boss Flavio Briatore said: "With Kovalainen, I hope to find the anti-Alonso." Kovalainen made his race debut at the Australian Grand Prix . His season got off to a rough start; he made several mistakes during the race, finishing tenth. Flavio Briatore felt it was a disappointing debut for

1919-511: The 2008 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 2009 season. In 2010 , he moved to the newly created Team Lotus where he also remained for 2011 and 2012 , with

2020-632: The 2012 season. Razia won the feature race of the first round in Malaysia , picked up two 2nd-place finishes during the two Bahrain rounds, and won again at Catalunya , Valencia and Silverstone . He finished the season as runner-up to champion Davide Valsecchi , whilst Trummer had a best race finish of seventh place to take 23rd in the drivers' championship. Arden finished third in the team's championship; its best result since 2005. From there Arden struggled in subsequent GP2 Series, their highest constructor's finish being an eighth in 2013 , and went without

2121-452: The Australian Grand Prix , where he was quickest in the first qualifying session and started third on the grid behind Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica . He overtook Fernando Alonso on the final lap, but then accidentally hit the pit lane limiter granting fourth place to Alonso, himself finishing fifth, but Kovalainen did set the fastest lap of the race. In Malaysia he was penalised five places for blocking Nick Heidfeld 's BMW Sauber in

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2222-542: The BRDC British F3 series for the 2021 season , with Frederick Lubin graduating from the F4 British Championship to take the first seat. Alex Connor filled the second seat for the first 3 race weekends, with Roman Bilinski taking over the seat from Spa onwards. Despite missing the first three rounds Roman Bilinski finished a respectable 7th in the drivers championship, in both his and the team's debut season in

2323-513: The British Formula 3 Championship with Fortec Motorsport who used Renault engines. He became one of the most competitive drivers on the grid by the second half of the season and all five of his wins came in the final nine races. With three pole positions and three fastest laps, Kovalainen finished third overall in the championship behind Robbie Kerr and James Courtney and he was again Rookie of

2424-561: The British Grand Prix was no disaster, with Fisichella finishing behind him. Kovalainen scored a point at both the Nürburgring and the Hungaroring , and scored three more in Turkey , with Kovalainen coming ahead of Robert Kubica . Kovalainen again led the Grand Prix when cars ahead of him made their pit stops. Seventh place at Monza was a fair result. The team took a gamble in the next race at Spa-Francorchamps , with Kovalainen on

2525-509: The Chinese Grand Prix , Kovalainen made a mistake in qualifying in Brazil and was left 17th on the grid. At the start of the race Ralf Schumacher collided with Kovalainen, forcing him to pit. His teammate Fisichella was involved in a collision with Sakon Yamamoto . On lap 36 he felt a vibration at the left rear, and suddenly something on the rear suspension snapped, launching Kovalainen into

2626-560: The GP2 Series , the new 'feeder' series for F1 and the successor to Formula 3000 . Driving for the Arden International team, Kovalainen began the season with strong results by winning the first round of the championship in Imola and then finishing third in the sprint race. In Barcelona he scored his third consecutive podium, but in the sprint race his car stalled on the grid. He dominated

2727-747: 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. Kovalainen began his car racing career in the British Formula Renault Championship , which fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen had won in 2000 before moving straight into Formula One with Sauber . Kovalainen's apprenticeship in the junior categories of motor sport

2828-534: The Red Bull Junior Team was one of Horner's main rivals as a manager in F3000, and whom he later worked closely with at Red Bull. He stayed in F3000 for 1998 and was joined at Arden by Kurt Mollekens , who showed good pace and led the championship at one stage. In the winter of 1998 family friend David Richards had been approached by Russian oil company Lukoil to enable them to enter motorsports sponsorship. As entries to F3000 were restricted, Richards agreed

2929-485: The Spanish Grand Prix , Kovalainen had just taken the lead, when his front-left tyre suddenly deflated and his car crashed into the tyre wall on lap 22. Kovalainen's car was almost completely buried under the tyres. The Safety Car was deployed for six laps as the debris was removed, and he was finally removed from the car and placed on a stretcher, at which point he gave a "thumbs-up". He was then taken by helicopter to

3030-490: The 100th driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix after race leader Felipe Massa retired due to an engine failure with three laps remaining. After the race Kovalainen commented: "In previous races my driving was too hard on the tyres. For this race we made somewhat radical changes to the set-up, and they were definitely a step in the right direction." He finished the following race in Valencia in fourth position, which moved him into

3131-545: The 2003 title with nine wins to Kovalainen's one. Kovalainen continued in the series in 2004, but moved to Pons Racing , where he won the championship ahead of Tiago Monteiro , with 192 points and six wins. With Kimi Räikkönen finishing seventh in Formula One and Marcus Grönholm fifth in the World Rally Championship , Kovalainen received the Finnish Driver of the Year award. In 2005 , Kovalainen entered

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3232-617: The DFV; Cosworth responded with the brand new AC engine. Costs began to increase significantly. The first chassis from March , Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (AGS) and Ralt were developments of their existing 1984 Formula Two designs, although Lola 's entry was based on and looked very much like an Indy car . A few smaller teams tried obsolete three-litre Formula One cars (from Tyrrell , Williams , Minardi , Arrows and RAM), with little success—the Grand Prix and Indycar-derived entries were too unwieldy as their fuel tanks were about twice

3333-533: The European season failed to produce equally strong results, but it did keep the points tally ticking over. During the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours , he was battling with Fisichella until the sharp Adelaide hairpin, when Jarno Trulli 's Toyota made an optimistic lunge up the inside of Kovalainen which wrecked both drivers' races. Kovalainen had to pit for repairs and eventually finished 15th. Seventh place at

3434-541: The Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat , feeling they had now solved the issues. He explained his driving style was now very close to Hamilton's, as well as his car set-up. Hamilton's aggressive driving style seemed to work the best with the McLaren MP4-23 , allowing the tyres to last longer. Hamilton hits the brakes harder and turns the car more quickly into the corner, while Kovalainen's softer driving style would be to drive with

3535-567: The Formula Renault 3.5 series as a joint team known as Arden Caterham . For their first season, they signed former GP3 driver for MW Arden Lewis Williamson , and one of Caterham F1 's test drivers, Alexander Rossi . Rossi scored his first podium finish with a third-place finish at the one race round at Monaco. After 3 rounds, Williamson was dropped by the team and the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme for failing to score

3636-622: The GT500 class with Team SARD . He won the championship in his second season in the series in 2016 . 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

3737-768: The Year. He also demonstrated strong form in the international non-championship rounds, with second place in Macau and fourth place at the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort . Kovalainen moved into the Renault-owned World Series by Nissan in 2003 – but faced a tough teammate at the Gabord team in Franck Montagny . Montagny had already spent two seasons in the World Series and had won the championship in 2001. Montagny won

3838-413: The barriers. The retirement, possibly caused by damage from the collision with Schumacher, was his first of the season, meaning he lost the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of becoming the first driver to finish all of the races in his first season. At the time, he shared the record for most consecutive finishes from start of career with Tiago Monteiro , both having finished 16 races, until Max Chilton broke

3939-403: The calendar was combined with that of Formula One, so the series became support races for the Grand Prix. Several Grand Prix teams established formal links with F3000 teams to develop young drivers (and engineering talent); these relationships varied from formal "junior teams" (such as the one McLaren set up for Nick Heidfeld ) to fairly distant relationships based mostly upon shared sponsors and

4040-512: The car heavier. This possibly caused the puncture to his front right tyre on lap 35, forcing him to pit and drop down to 17th, before he finally retired on lap 49 due to a hydraulics problem. Going into the Brazilian Grand Prix , Kovalainen qualified fifth on the grid, leading many to believe that the McLarens were fuelled heavier than the other frontrunners, having set the pace earlier in

4141-507: The championship, and the team winning it outright 51 points. Arden operated A1 Team Great Britain in the first season of the A1GP series for 2005–2006 . The team fared well in their first season, collecting 8 podium finishes and a single pole position, leaving the team 3rd in the championship with 97 points overall. In 2005 , the F3000 series was rebranded as the GP2 Series, Arden stayed on for

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4242-409: The championship. For 2011 , the team completely refreshed their line up by signing Mitch Evans , Simon Trummer and Lewis Williamson . The season overshadowed the previous as the team came second overall in the constructors championship with 69 points, and both Williamson and Evans scoring 1 win each and coming 8th and 9th in the drivers championship respectively. This would also be the season where

4343-935: The championship. Bilinski was named 3rd in Autosport's 'Top 5 GB3 Drivers of 2021'. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Hedley drove for Rodin Motorsport and Chris Dittmann Racing from round 4 onwards. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Formula 3000 International Championship The Formula 3000 International Championship

4444-470: The championship. On 18 November it was announced that recently crowned world champion Jenson Button had been signed on a multi-year deal as Hamilton's teammate leaving Kovalainen without a 2010 F1 drive. It was announced on 14 December 2009, that Kovalainen would drive for Lotus Racing in 2010 along with Jarno Trulli . The team made their debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 14 March 2010. The car

4545-462: The closing stages to secure the final points position. Better was to come at the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway , where, despite not making it through to the final qualifying session, Kovalainen raced well. While most of his rivals got into trouble one way or another in the hazardous wet conditions, Kovalainen did not and held off Kimi Räikkönen in the closing laps to take second place and his first podium in Formula One. After finishing ninth in

4646-528: The constructor's standings. In January 2017, Niko Kari was signed to the team for the 2017 season , making him the first Red Bull Junior to compete with the team since Kvyat and Sainz. A month later, Steijn Schothorst and Euroformula Open champion Leonardo Pulcini joined Arden. 2018 line-up consisted of Gabriel Aubry , Julien Falchero and Joey Mawson The team has season without wins, with just two podiums achieved by Mawson. For 2012 , Arden International entered an agreement with Caterham to join

4747-689: The crown" of the F3000 season was traditionally the Pau Grand Prix street race, rivalled for a few years by the Birmingham round. Most major circuits in France, Italy , Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom saw the series visit at least once. In 1996, new rules introduced a single engine (a detuned Judd V8 engine, re-engineered by and badged as a Zytek ) and chassis ( Lola ), to go along with tyre standardization ( Avon ) introduced in 1986. The following year

4848-480: The exit of turn 7, and hit the barrier. He crashed at the first chicane in qualifying, and damaged his rear wing significantly, and failed to make it through to the second qualifying session. In the race he made progress early on, and then halted. He had luck with the strategy and the Safety Car, and a podium was within his grasp, but he could not find a way past Alexander Wurz of Williams , who had also started towards

4949-401: The final lap, although his decision to not go into the pit lane and instead stop at the side of the track and tackle the blaze himself was met with applause from the crowd. Kovalainen remained with Lotus in 2011 . At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix , he was forced to retire after a water leak, before recording his first finish of the season in Malaysia where he finished 15th, before

5050-656: The first free practice sessions in Bahrain and Spain . On 14 November 2013 it was confirmed by the Lotus F1 Team that Kovalainen would stand in for regular driver Kimi Räikkönen as Räikkönen was having back surgery. Kovalainen raced at the United States Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix . He finished 14th in both races. He was linked with joining Mercedes as a test driver for 2014 and reuniting with his former McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton however it

5151-453: The grid, and came third in the sprint race. At this point in the season, however, a resurgent Nico Rosberg with his ART Grand Prix team seemed to find more speed and began scoring victories, emerging as Kovalainen's main rival for the championship. Kovalainen and Arden fought back, scoring podiums and points positions in Silverstone , Hockenheim and Hungaroring , but were unable to find

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5252-416: The grid. He was able to start from the pitlane after the mechanics changed his steering wheel, and he made his way up to score a point for eighth place. In Montreal , Kovalainen experienced difficulties with his tyres, as they seemed to degrade much more rapidly than Hamilton's, and the team was forced to tell him to take it easy in order to avoid a puncture. He finished ninth, and later described his race as

5353-551: The initial Australian Grand Prix . Kovalainen and Petrov were dropped in favour of Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde ahead of the 2013 season, but Kovalainen remained on good terms with Caterham, attending the Malaysian Grand Prix as a personal guest of Tony Fernandes. Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix , the team announced that it had re-signed Kovalainen as one of its reserve drivers, replacing Ma Qing Hua and alongside Alexander Rossi , in which role he took part in

5454-513: The latter stages of qualifying, dropping to eighth. Kovalainen finished the race third as Hamilton faced problems in the pits, and Ferrari's Felipe Massa retired due to a spin. In Bahrain he flatspotted a tyre on the first lap and was consequently well off the pace of the Ferraris and the BMW Saubers. Towards the end he improved and recorded the fastest lap of the race again, coming home fifth. At

5555-417: The necessary speed to beat Rosberg. In Istanbul's feature race Kovalainen finished tenth due to engine problems, but in the sprint race held in wet conditions he returned to his winning ways. At Monza Arden were fast again, and Kovalainen snatched his second pole of the season and won the feature race. In the sprint race he could only manage fifth position, however, and this meant that with four races left in

5656-458: The new series and achieved second place in the teams' championship with Heikki Kovalainen and Nicolas Lapierre , and second place in the Drivers' Championship with Kovalainen, who had 5 wins, 4 pole positions and a fastest lap to his name. In 2006 , Arden competed in GP2 with Lapierre and the rookie Michael Ammermüller ( Neel Jani acted as a substitute for Lapierre when the latter was injured in

5757-497: The option to buy back the Prodrive stake. As the years went on, the team began to reap the results and was the best team of Formula 3000 in its last 3 years, showing new talents to motorsport world like Darren Manning , Tomáš Enge , Björn Wirdheim and Vitantonio Liuzzi . The team won the Teams' Championship in 2002 , 2003 and 2004 . During those years, Wirdheim won the drivers championship in 2003, and Liuzzi won it in 2004. During

5858-407: The points. At the Italian Grand Prix he qualified second behind Sebastian Vettel in the tricky wet conditions. In the race Kovalainen developed brake temperature problems, however, and could not match Vettel's pace, finishing in second place, but was disappointed at the lost chance for a win. In Singapore , Kovalainen qualified fifth, and tried to overtake Kubica for fourth place at the start of

5959-459: The previous one with the team picking up 50 points, enough to take sixth place, and Buemi picked up two race victories to finish sixth overall in the drivers' championship. Arden again took part in the Asia Series for the 2008–09 season , signing Luiz Razia and Mika Mäki . For the second round of the championship, held at the Dubai Autodrome , Mäki was replaced by Renger van der Zande , who

6060-417: The race at Monaco ). This year, Arden suffered a significant drop in performance, and had only 57 points to show and a single win from Ammermüller, compared to the previous season's 126. Overall the team came fourth in the championship. For 2007 , Arden signed Bruno Senna , nephew of triple F1 champion Ayrton Senna , and A1 Team South Africa driver Adrian Zaugg . Zaugg was replaced for the final round of

6161-428: The race in Monaco by claiming pole position, leading the race for the first 21 laps and clocking the fastest lap of the race. Problems during his pitstop, however, dropped him down to fifth. At the Nürburgring he gave his best performance yet, by winning the race from 17th on the grid. In the sprint race José María López caused a collision which forced Kovalainen to retire. At Magny-Cours he won again from fourth on

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6262-473: The race, but they made contact at Turn 3, causing Kovalainen to lose two places to Glock and Vettel. During a Safety Car period, both McLarens pitted at the same time and Kovalainen had to queue up behind Hamilton, dropping him down the order to 14th. He ultimately finished tenth. Prior to the Japanese Grand Prix Kovalainen discussed his driving style and the tyre problems in an interview with

6363-440: The race. During the season, Kovalainen outqualified teammates Trulli and Karun Chandhok in 17 out of the 19 races held, and Team Lotus principal Tony Fernandes stated that he was satisfied with Kovalainen's performance over the season. Kovalainen was retained by the team – renamed Caterham F1 for 2012  – for a third year, partnering Vitaly Petrov . This season was more stable, as Kovalainen finished all races but

6464-468: The ranks. Müller became a BMW driver in WTCC touring car racing after having been a test driver for the BMW- Williams F1 project in 1999 as well as a racer of the BMW V12 LMR Le Mans winner. Sospiri attempted to qualify for one Formula One race but failed to make it, as part of the disastrous MasterCard Lola team. He later had a successful career in sportscars. Wirdheim was third driver in practice sessions for Jaguar Racing , but never participated in

6565-668: The rear of the pack. Kovalainen was pulling away from the Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen in the closing stages, which was a real confidence booster for the team. In the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis he qualified in sixth position, and a good start saw him go past Räikkönen into fifth place. He held Räikkönen off, and led the race at the end of his first stint when the cars ahead of him made their pit stops. He re-joined behind Räikkönen and looked comfortable in sixth place until Nick Heidfeld 's BMW Sauber broke down in front of him, and thus, Kovalainen finished fifth, while teammate Fisichella failed to score points. The second half of

6666-603: The record by finishing his first 25 races in 2013 and 2014 . At the end of the 2007 season Fernando Alonso returned to Renault, and Kovalainen was left with offers from Toyota and McLaren . On 14 December 2007 it was confirmed that Kovalainen would replace Alonso once again and drive for McLaren Mercedes in 2008 , alongside Lewis Hamilton . Kovalainen joined Keke Rosberg , Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen as Finnish drivers that have driven for McLaren. After his first official testing session occurred on 9 January 2008 at Jerez , Kovalainen made his McLaren race début at

6767-401: The right-hand side of the car and vice versa, meaning the tyres were spinning in the wrong direction, causing understeer. He reported the understeer on the radio, and during his first pit stop the mechanics tried to improve the situation by raising the front-wing angle. Now that he also had correctly marked tyres, however, meant that the front-wing was now causing oversteer and making the front of

6868-474: The season by Filipe Albuquerque . This season was even worse for the team compared to the previous year, only managing 42 points which resulted in a seventh-placed finish in the teams' championship, with Senna finishing ninth overall in the drivers' championship. For 2008 and the newly founded Asia Series , the team was renamed Trust Team Arden, after its Dutch title sponsor Trust . The duo of Red Bull Junior Team driver Sébastien Buemi and Yelmer Buurman

6969-437: The season by finishing fifth. McLaren gradually developed the car and results began to improve, with Kovalainen finishing eighth in Germany , fifth in Hungary and his best result of the season, a fourth place at the European Grand Prix . This was followed by back-to-back sixth places at Spa and Monza , and seventh in Singapore . He ended the season with 22 points having had five retirements, this left him in 12th position in

7070-417: The season, Kovalainen was leading Rosberg by only four points. After a chaotic weekend at Spa affected by rain and Safety Cars, Rosberg took the lead from Kovalainen. In the final two rounds in Bahrain , Rosberg and ART seemed to be unmatched again, and he secured the championship by winning the feature race with Kovalainen finishing third. Retiring from the last sprint race, Kovalainen finished runner-up in

7171-494: The series, 15 points adrift. Kovalainen, Franck Montagny and José María López tested the Renault R23 B F1 car at Barcelona in December 2003. Kovalainen also tested for Minardi , but Renault made him second test driver alongside Montagny for 2004 . Kovalainen was promoted in Montagny's place at the end of 2005 and spent the 2006 season in a full-time testing role, logging over 28,000 km of testing. Renault's lead driver Fernando Alonso had signed for McLaren for

7272-526: The size of those needed for F3000 races, and the weight distribution was not ideal. The first few years of the championship saw March establishing a superiority over Ralt and Lola—there was little to choose between the chassis, but more Marches were sold and ended up in better hands. In 1988, the ambitious Reynard marque entered with a brand new chassis; Reynard had won their first race in every formula they had previously entered, and did so again in F3000. The next couple of years saw Lola improve slightly—their car

7373-537: The team doctor telling him what had happened. Kovalainen was released from the hospital two days later and he was able to race in Turkey. The cause of the accident was later determined to have been a production error on the wheel rim. In the Turkish Grand Prix , evidence of the different driving styles used by the two McLaren drivers became apparent. Hamilton's more aggressive driving style meant that he had to adopt

7474-402: The team picked up its first pole positions with 2 from Evans and 1 from Williamson. For 2012 , they retained Evans, and partnered him with David Fumanelli and Matias Laine . Evans former teammates Simon Trummer and Lewis Williamson had moved to the GP2 sister team, and the new Formula Renault team Arden Caterham respectively. At the first round in Spain , Evans won the feature race. At

7575-497: 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 2013 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

7676-667: The team signed Josef Král and Jolyon Palmer . The year was the team's worst so far in its GP2 history, as neither driver managed a win, pole or fastest lap in either series, and the team ended up finishing tenth in the Asia series and eleventh in the main series. As the GP2 Asia Series had joined together with the GP2 main series in 2012, there were no longer two separate series. The team signed former 2008–09 Asia season driver Luiz Razia and former MW Arden GP3 sister team driver Simon Trummer for

7777-580: The team signed Nirei Fukuzumi and Maximilian Günther , changing their team name from Pertamina Arden to BWT Arden. The team had another sprint win with Günther, but decreased from seventh to ninth in the teams' championship. For the 2019 season , Arden began a technical collaboration with Mercedes-affiliated FIA Formula 3 and Formula E outfit HWA RACELAB and signed Alfa Romeo racing team's Test Driver, Tatiana Calderon as their first driver and Renault junior and reigning GP3 champion, Anthoine Hubert as their second driver. However, Hubert died after

7878-443: The team's championship respectively, with the highest driver standing coming from a fourth place for Emil Bernstorff in 2015 . Jake Dennis , 2015 Eurocup champion Jack Aitken and Colombian Tatiana Calderón competed with the team for the 2016 season . Calderón being the first women to compete for the team in its 19-year history. With three victories from Dennis and Aitken, the team finished as runners-up to ART Grand Prix in

7979-550: The teams 8 years in the series, it has scored 359 points, won 16 races and achieved 20 pole positions . The team joined the Italian Formula 3000 series for 1999 and 2000 . Their first season was poor with only one point to their name, but the 2000 season went significantly better, with Warren Hughes taking two wins, one pole position and three fastest laps for the team, and Darren Manning taking one win, one pole and one fastest lap too. The team finished with Hughes second in

8080-732: The teams' championship, with Doohan taking honours as rookie champion. For the 2019 season , Arden signed Australian Formula Ford racer Bart Horsten and promoted British karting champions Alex Connor and Tommy Foster from their young driver programme, with Abbie Munro joining the team for the final three rounds. In October 2019, Frederick Lubin became the team's first signing for the 2020 season , followed by Roman Bilinski and Alex Connor. Oscar Piastri, Sami Taoufik and Aleksandr Vartanyan were 2018 Arden's drivers in Eurocup. Arden competed in 2017 with Sean Gelael and Norman Nato , taking their first Formula 2 win at Baku Circuit with Nato. For 2018 ,

8181-464: The third round in Valencia, Evans managed to collect pole position and went on to win another feature race. Evans went on to win the championship in the 2012 season. The team scored their second driver's championship with Daniil Kvyat the following season, with Carlos Sainz, Jr. and Robert Vișoiu finishing tenth and eleventh respectively. In the following two seasons, Arden scored fifth and third in

8282-421: The top five in the championship. In September Kovalainen elaborated on the tyre issues for Autosport . The problem seemed to be indeed caused by his different driving style compared to Hamilton, particularly the way he enters corners, uses brakes differently and then accelerates. Hamilton turns the car in a shorter time whereas Kovalainen is trying to make the corners more round, inadvertently causing more wear on

8383-448: The top, before landing and skidding into the barrier. Kovalainen recovered to the pits but retired from the race. A 17th-place finish at Silverstone and a fourteenth in Hungary sandwiched his fourth retirement of the season in Germany , due to damage caused by a collision with Sauber 's Pedro de la Rosa . He retired yet again at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix after his car caught fire in

8484-402: The tyres. They had made progress by adapting the car and working on his driving style. In Belgium he qualified third, but lost eight places at the start. On lap ten he collided with Mark Webber and was given a drive-through penalty, which dropped him to fifteenth place. He worked his way back up to seventh, but on the final lap had to retire due to a gearbox failure, which left him outside

8585-418: The use of the 'parent' team's name. The series grew dramatically through the late nineties, reaching an entry of nearly 40 cars - although this in itself was problematic as it meant many drivers failed to qualify. In 2000, the series was restricted to 15 teams of two cars each. However, by 2002 expenses were once more very high and the number of entries, and sponsors, rapidly dwindled. International Formula 3000

8686-476: The weekend. Kovalainen eventually finished seventh. At the start of the 2009 season McLaren were struggling for pace. Both Kovalainen and Hamilton failed to get into the top ten in qualifying for the first two races. In the Australian Grand Prix , Kovalainen retired due to a collision with Mark Webber in the first corner and in Malaysia he spun off on the first lap while fighting for position with Hamilton and Massa. In China he scored his first points of

8787-622: The wet circuit, Kovalainen finished fifth. After the race Kovalainen reported similar tyre problems that he suffered in Canada; after a few laps the rear tyres were completely degraded and had lost their grip. At the German Grand Prix Kovalainen finished fifth. In the week leading up to the Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren confirmed that Kovalainen would remain with the team for 2009 . He won his only race at Hungary and became

8888-536: The young Finn and hoped the real Kovalainen would show up next time. Kovalainen scored his first World Championship point in his second Grand Prix at Sepang, Malaysia , and followed this with a ninth place in Bahrain . He then secured seventh place in Barcelona , outperforming teammate Giancarlo Fisichella , but finished down the order in Monaco , in 13th. In Canada he made mistakes throughout practice, including one at

8989-594: Was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One . Formula Two had become too expensive, and was dominated by works-run cars with factory engines; the hope was that Formula 3000 would offer quicker, cheaper, more open racing. The series began as an open specification, then tyres were standardized from 1986 onwards, followed by engines and chassis in 1996. The series ran annually until 2004, and

9090-474: Was a popular choice, having been made obsolete in Formula One by the adoption of 1.5 litre turbocharged engines. The rules permitted any 90-degree V8 engine, fitted with a rev-limiter to keep power output under control. As well as the Cosworth, a Honda engine based on an Indy V8 by John Judd also appeared; a rumoured Lamborghini V8 never raced. In later years, a Mugen-Honda V8 became the unit of choice, eclipsing

9191-710: Was competitive with the Reynard in 1990—and March slip, but both were crushed by the Reynard teams, and by the mid-90s, F3000 was a virtual Reynard monopoly, although Lola did eventually return with a promising car and the Japanese Footwork and Dome chassis were seen in Europe. Dallara briefly tried the series before moving up to Formula One , and AGS moved up from Formula Two but never recaptured their occasional success. At least one unraced F3000 chassis existed—the Wagner fitted with

9292-809: Was experiencing tough competition with cheaper formulae, such as European F3000 (using ex-FIA 1999 and 2002 Lola chassis), World Series by Nissan (also known as Formula Nissan) and Formula Renault V6 Eurocup . By the end of 2003, car counts had fallen to new lows. The 2004 season was the last F3000 campaign, due in part to dwindling field sizes. In 2005 it was replaced with a new series known as GP2 , with Renault backing. Three past F3000 champions (Müller, Junqueira and Wirdheim) have never been entered in an F1 race. Montoya and Bourdais became Champions in North American open-wheel ( CART and Champ Car ) respectively, with Fittipaldi, Moreno, Junqueira and Wilson also becoming race winners, and Danner and Wirdheim making

9393-412: Was initially created as a vehicle to enable Christian Horner to race in F3000 in 1997 . According to Horner he set the team up with borrowed money, including a loan from his father, and persuaded P1 Motorsport founder Roly Vincini (whom Horner had driven for in his first season of F3) to take on the role of his race engineer. He bought a second-hand trailer for the team from Helmut Marko , who as head of

9494-449: Was its race line-up for both championships. For the Asia Series, Adam Khan raced for the first two rounds before being replaced by Buurman. The overall result in the Asia Series was the team finishing second in the championship, with 50 points and one win, and Buemi finishing second in the drivers' championship. Mid-season in the main series, Buurman was replaced by ART Grand Prix outcast Luca Filippi . The season went slightly better than

9595-560: Was more conventional, but he used Renault power at every step along the way. He finished fourth in the championship with two wins, two pole positions, five podiums and three fastest laps, earning the Rookie of the Year award. He also took part in the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix , where he finished eighth. Kovalainen attracted the support of the Renault Driver Development programme and in 2002 moved up to

9696-755: Was off the pace in pre-season testing, due to a lack of downforce caused by the need for a conservative initial design. Kovalainen finished in fifteenth position in the race, two laps down on winner Fernando Alonso . In Australia , Trulli did not start the race and Kovalainen finished 13th. In Malaysia , Kovalainen retired with 10 laps to go, and followed this up with fourteenth in China , while in Spain Kovalainen failed to start with gearbox problems. He retired in Monaco with steering problems, and in Turkey with hydraulic problems. Kovalainen finished 16th in Canada , 2 laps down. At Valencia on lap 9 Mark Webber 's Red Bull hit Kovalainen's Lotus and went over

9797-409: Was pushed off the track along with several other cars. Kovalainen was running in third when on lap 17 his car suffered an engine failure. At the Chinese Grand Prix on his 27th birthday, he qualified in fifth position despite leading the timesheets in the initial part of third qualifying. In the race, Kovalainen's first set of front tyres had been marked incorrectly, so the left tyre was installed on

9898-532: Was raced with a different nose to the one that had been crash tested. This season also saw problems with driver changes - the cost of F3000 was escalating to the point that teams were finding it difficult to run drivers for a whole season. A rule limiting driver changes to two per car per season meant that some cars had to sit idle while drivers with budgets could not race them. In 1991, some Italian teams started using Agip 's so-called "jungle juice" Formula One fuel, worth an estimated 15 bhp, giving their drivers

9999-518: Was replaced in 2005 by the GP2 Series . The series was staged as the Formula 3000 European Championship in 1985, as the Formula 3000 Intercontinental Championship in 1986 and 1987 and then as the Formula 3000 International Championship from 1988 to 2004. Formula 3000 replaced Formula Two, and was so named because the engines used were limited to 3000cc maximum capacity . Initially, the Cosworth DFV

10100-410: Was subsequently replaced for the rest of the season by Edoardo Mortara . Razia scored the team's only win of the campaign, which allowed Arden to finish sixth in the teams' championship. For the 2009 main Series , the team signed F3 frontrunners Sergio Pérez and Mortara. This was also another poor season for the team, as it finished well down the order in eighth place overall with only Mortara managing

10201-552: 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 2006 , and then promoted him to a race seat for 2007 . He gained his first podium by finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix that year. He moved to McLaren for

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