page_title: Heikki Kovalainen
section_title: 2009
hierarchical_section_title: Heikki Kovalainen / Formula One / McLaren (2008–2009) / 2009
caption_attribution_description: Heikki Kovalainen driving for McLaren at the 2009 German Grand Prix.
context_page_description: Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish racing driver. 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. In August 2020, Kovalainen was listed as the 8th fastest driver from 1983 to 2020 by F1. Since then, he has raced in the Japanese Super GT series, 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 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 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.
context_section_description: 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 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 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.
caption: Kovalainen at the 2009 German Grand Prix
exif: {}