Heikki Kovalainen looks set to get the Lotus drive for the final two races after negotiations with Nico Hulkenberg came to nothing, with Finland’s MTV saying that the deal is done.
The choice makes obvious sense given that the team has to score points in the final two races, and if it cannot headhunt a driver from another team, even as part of a build-up to 2014, then Kovalainen is the logical option.
He knows the Enstone team well having driven for it under the Renault name in 2007, and since then he has talked several times about a return. Perhaps most importantly he is ‘match fit’ after running six FP1s for Caterham, most recently in Suzuka and Abu Dhabi. He knows the 2013 Pirellis and is totally familiar with the Renault engine and its systems.
He doesn’t have a manager and can thus negotiate directly with the team without any baggage involved. He’s also close to Kimi Raikkonen and may well have been been given a heads-up about Kimi’s plans, allowing him to get his name in the frame early on.
He obviously has a contract with Caterham, but one assumes that the team would not stand in his way, even if it is still considering Heikki as a 2014 race driver – it would clearly do him no harm to return to Caterham having got up to speed by doing a couple of races.
Adam Cooper F1 
Let’s not forget that Kovalainen has also driven around Austin last year and naturally around Sao Paolo for quite a few times.
well said Hekki should also be a businessman apart from being a talented driver hope he gets some good sponsors in the bargain
Kovalainen would be a perfect driver for Lotus next year: These two races will give him a change to meet and get to know with the team – some of them he already knows – and being used to Renault engines he would have no problems to deal with Lotus car. Also: Lotus cannot pay 10 or 15 million for its drivers and Kovalainen would probably only ask anything between 1 to 4 million euros plus bonuses making him a very good deal for the team. He is a good driver. Unfortunately he wants to negotiate everything by himself and not to use managers, and he doesn’t wanna negotiate any sponsorship deals which is pretty silly leaving him always in a bad situation when compared to other drivers who can bring in millions of euros for their team. Let’s hope he will show everyone how good he actually is: Just like Mika Salo showed everyone his true talents while replacing Michael Schumacher in Ferrari.
What part of Finland are you from, Michael?
A very logical decision if it happens and Hekki can get back to the big game once again
It will be good to see Heikki in a competitive car.
I thought he was the real deal when he was coming up into F1…. he just never transformed into anything other than a moderate mid fielder though. While it’s a sensible choice for these two races I don’t think he deserves a permanent seat on the grid above a number of younger drivers even some tagged as pay drivers.
Please for Heikki, he didn’t get a fair crack at McLaren I hope this will help him back in the game. Fingers crossed.