Of late, Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen has been extremely erratic in his performances because of which he has lost out on places on some of the best teams. However, following the present season, a turnaround is expected for 2011.
The Finn driver was unable to prove himself as he scored the worst results the top teams he was signed on to had scored in years. Heikki was a part of Renault during the time when it was at its best after Fernando Alonso won the
Championship two years in a row in 2005 and 2006. After that, Kovalainen was surprisingly offered a spot in McLaren and the team decided to keep him for two years through 2008 and 2009.
After realizing Heikki was not ‘McLaren material’, the team replaced him with the 2009 World Champion Jenson Button in 2010 and obviously, since Heikki was unable to score good results with a good team, the back running teams were
not willing to sign him on either but with Lotus coming out of the blue, returning to motorsports after nearly almost 20 years, they signed on the young Finn.
However, it was still uncertain whether Heikki would continue with the team for 2011 but the team recently announced that it will stick with Kovalainen for the upcoming season.
The team is yet to confirm its driver’s line up but it is expected Heikki will be joined by teammate Jarno Trulli.
“That's why I chose this team. It was a risk at the time to go with an entirely new team, but I'm happy with the choice that I made and what we achieved this season,” said the former Renault and McLaren driver.
The team is expected to introduce their classic outfit for 2011 and Heikki is excited as he expects the team to bring back their classic pace with it as well. The team will most likely change its name as well since the team will
be using Renault engines that will be fitted to a Red Bull gear box next season.
“Expectations are high. It would be a disappointment if we did not make a step forward,” admitted Kovalainen.
Mike Gascoyne, Lotus’s Team Boss also confirmed that the team is happy with Kovalainen’s performance.
“We always had confidence in Heikki and he delivered for us what we expected from him. He performed well and he's also a nice guy, making it very enjoyable for the team to work with him,” said the Team Boss.
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