Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 McLaren partner, Heikki Kovalainen set to undergo open heart surgery

Heikki Kovalainen, the Finnish racing driver, currently races for the AICELLO rally team in the Japan Rally Championship. Prior to being a rallycross driver, he raced in Formula 1 between 2007 and 2013 for teams like Renault and McLaren, where he partnered Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

Although he retired in 2013, Heikki Kovalainen has recently grabbed the headlines in the F1 community, due to a critical medical condition.

Heikki Kovalainen set for life-saving surgery

Heikki Kovaleinen, who is well known in the Formula 1 world for being Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren partner in 2008, has recently revealed in a team statement that he has been diagnosed with an ascending aortic aneurysm (a condition affecting the arteries), and is set to undergo a critical operation to cure it.

In the team statement, he stated this: “I was diagnosed with ascending aortic aneurysm in a medical check-up recently and I was told not to be able to participate in rallies due to increased risk of aortic rupture.”

“I have no symptoms and I’m currently feeling good, and we are now making a plan on how to solve this issue,” he explained.

Revealing his upcoming open-heart surgery, he quoted, “An open-heart surgery is our favorable solution at the moment, and we are preparing for that. We hope to get an operation done and start the recovery as soon as possible.”

In the statement, he mentioned his plans to continue racing until the end of January before opting out due to medical concerns. “I was planning to participate in the rallies until the end of January, but after careful consideration with my team of doctors I’ve decided to try and fix this issue instead”, he revealed.

“My aim is of course to return to the Japanese Rally Championship with Rally Team AICELLO”, he concluded, expressing his post-operation goal.

Prior to racing in the World Rally Championship, Kovalainen had a 7-year-long career in Formula 1, driving for several of the top teams.

Heikki Kovalainen’s F1 career

The now 42-year-old Heikki Kovaleinen–mostly famous for partnering the 7x F1 champion Lewis Hamilton–was an active F1 racer between 2007 and 2013, and raced for teams like Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, and Caterham.

Heikki Kovaleinen made his F1 debut in 2007 with Renault, where he earned his first podium finish (P2) at that year’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Later in 2008, he made the switch to McLaren, where he got partnered with Lewis Hamilton. In the 2009 F1 season, he grabbed his first pole position at Silverstone and his first win at the Hungarian GP, becoming the 100th GP winner in F1 history.

In his last stint in Formula 1, he signed up for Team Lotus in the 2010 season and stayed with the team for the next four seasons, failing to grab any notable success during that time. He experienced his last F1 race at the end of 2013, when he replaced Kimi Raikkonen as a temporary driver.

One of Heikki Kovalainen’s best moments in F1 was at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix, where he turned into a firefighter to water out the fire in his Lotus F1 car.

Heikki Kovalainen is most likely to miss out on this season’s races and return only after his successful recovery.

Can Kovalainen make a speedy recovery and return to action this season? Is this already the end of his racing career? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.