Kovalainen began in kart racing from 1991 to 2000, finishing runner-up in the Finnish Formula A championship in 1999 and 2000, winning the Nordic championship and the Paris-Bercy Elf Masters event in 2000, and finishing third in the World Formula Super A Championship that year.
In 2001, he joined the British Formula Renault Championship, finishing fourth overall with two wins, two pole positions, five podiums, and three fastest laps, earning the Rookie of the Year award. He also raced in the Formula Three Macau Grand Prix, finishing eighth.
In 2002, Kovalainen moved to the British Formula 3 Championship with Fortec Motorsport under the support of the Renault Driver Development programme. He won five races in the final nine of the season and finished third overall behind Robbie Kerr and James Courtney, taking another Rookie of the Year award. He placed second at Macau and fourth at the Marlboro Masters at Zandvoort.
Kovalainen entered the Renault-owned World Series by Nissan in 2003 at the Gabord team, where Franck Montagny was a tough teammate and won the title with nine wins to Kovalainen's one. In 2004, Kovalainen moved to Pons Racing, won the championship ahead of Tiago Monteiro with 192 points and six wins, and received the Finnish Driver of the Year award.
In the 2005 GP2 Series with Arden International, Kovalainen was a championship contender throughout. He won six feature races, claimed pole at Monaco, and dominated stretches of the season, but a resurgent Nico Rosberg with ART Grand Prix emerged as his main rival. Rosberg ultimately secured the championship in Bahrain with Kovalainen finishing third in the feature race, leaving Kovalainen runner-up, 15 points adrift.
After testing for Renault from 2004 and serving as full-time test driver in 2006—logging over 28,000 km of testing—Kovalainen was promoted to a race seat for 2007 following Fernando Alonso's departure to McLaren. He partnered Giancarlo Fisichella.
Kovalainen scored his first World Championship point in Malaysia and finished second at the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway, holding off Kimi Räikkönen in hazardous wet conditions for his first Formula One podium. His season ended at the Brazilian Grand Prix when rear suspension failure, possibly triggered by earlier collision damage from Ralf Schumacher, launched his car into the barriers. He had finished 16 consecutive races before that retirement, sharing a then-record for most consecutive finishes from the start of a career with Tiago Monteiro.
Kovalainen replaced Alonso at McLaren for 2008, partnering Lewis Hamilton. He joined Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen, and Kimi Räikkönen as Finnish drivers to have raced for McLaren.
At the Spanish Grand Prix, Kovalainen suffered a front-left tyre deflation that sent his car into the tyre wall on lap 22. He was taken to hospital with a minor concussion and no memory of the accident; the cause was later determined to be a production error on the wheel rim. He recovered to race in Turkey.
At Silverstone, Kovalainen achieved his first Formula One pole position. He took his sole Formula One victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, becoming the 100th driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix after race leader Felipe Massa retired with an engine failure three laps from the end. A recurring tyre degradation problem traced to his driving style—taking longer, rounder corner entries compared to Hamilton's sharper, more aggressive approach—hampered his season, though he and McLaren worked to adapt. He finished the season ranked seventh in the championship.
In 2009, McLaren struggled for pace early in the season. Kovalainen's best result was a fourth place at the European Grand Prix. He ended the season with 22 points in 12th place. Following Jenson Button's signing as Hamilton's teammate, Kovalainen was left without a 2010 drive at McLaren.
Kovalainen joined the newly created Lotus Racing for 2010 alongside Jarno Trulli. The team debuted at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 14 March 2010. Although the cars were uncompetitive, Kovalainen earned recognition for outperforming drivers in similarly placed machinery. At the 2010 European Grand Prix in Valencia, Mark Webber's Red Bull struck Kovalainen's Lotus and flew over the top of it. At the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix, Kovalainen's car caught fire on the final lap; his decision to stop at the side of the track and tackle the blaze himself drew applause from the crowd.
In 2011, Kovalainen outqualified teammates Trulli and Karun Chandhok in 17 of the 19 races held. Team Lotus principal Tony Fernandes stated he was satisfied with Kovalainen's performance over the season.
For 2012, the team was renamed Caterham F1 and Kovalainen partnered Vitaly Petrov. He finished all races except the opening Australian Grand Prix.
Kovalainen and Petrov were dropped by Caterham for 2013 in favour of Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde, though Kovalainen remained on good terms with the team and attended the Malaysian Grand Prix as a guest of Tony Fernandes. He rejoined as a reserve driver ahead of Bahrain, participating in first free practice sessions in Bahrain and Spain.
In November 2013, the Lotus F1 Team confirmed Kovalainen would stand in for Kimi Räikkönen, who was having back surgery. Kovalainen raced at the United States Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix, finishing 14th in both.
At the 2004 Race of Champions at the Stade de France in Paris, Kovalainen defeated Formula One drivers David Coulthard and Jean Alesi, then beat Michael Schumacher in the semi-finals driving a Ferrari 360 Modena. He then beat World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb in the final using a Ferrari and a Peugeot 307 WRC car, becoming the first non-rally driver to win the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy. In the Nations Cup alongside Marcus Grönholm, however, their Ferrari 360 Modena broke down in the final, losing to the French team of Loeb and Alesi.
Kovalainen and Grönholm won the Nations Cup at the 2006 Race of Champions. In 2007, Kovalainen beat Sebastian Vettel in individual racing before crashing on the finish line against Andy Priaulx. At the 2010 event, Kovalainen withdrew after suffering a concussion in a crash against Loeb.
In 2015, Kovalainen moved to Japan to compete in Super GT (GT500 class) driving the Lexus RC F GT500 for SARD with co-driver Kohei Hirate. In 2016, he and Hirate won the Super GT championship. Going into the season's closing double header at Twin Ring Motegi in fourth place in the standings, they qualified on pole and led most of the first of the two races before dropping to second, then won the final round to clinch the title—Kovalainen's first championship since the World Series by Nissan in 2004. Kovalainen remained in Super GT until announcing his retirement from the series after the 2021 season.
Kovalainen made his rally debut at the 2015 Arctic Rally, finishing third in class. In 2016, he entered four events of the Japan Rally Championship co-driven by Sae Kitagawa in a Toyota GT86 CS-R3 for SARD. He returned to the series in 2018 and 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic reduced his 2020 programme to a single rally, which he won. In 2021, driving the same car and co-driver in the JN2 class, he won all six races and clinched the championship with a round to spare. Following his Super GT exit, Kovalainen moved to rallying full-time, driving a Škoda Fabia R5 in the JN1 class and announcing plans to potentially contest Rally Japan in the World Rally Championship.
Kovalainen was entered for the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans in the #72 Porsche 911 RSR-19 for HubAuto Racing alongside Nick Cassidy and Dries Vanthoor, but a scheduling conflict caused by the rescheduling of the Suzuka round of the 2021 Super GT Series prevented his attendance. He and Cassidy were replaced by Álvaro Parente and Maxime Martin.
Kovalainen made his Extreme E debut in the 2023 season for JBXE, partnered with Hedda Hosås. He was replaced by Andreas Bakkerud after two rounds.
In November 2023, Kovalainen was diagnosed with an ascending aortic aneurysm following a routine health check. He underwent successful surgery and recovered to return to racing within a few months.
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