Heikki Kovalainen admits that his Formula One career may have been cut short because of his breakup with Flavio Briatore.
Heikki Kovalainen admits that his Formula One career may have been shortened because of his breakup with Flavio Briatore.
The Finn was one of the most promising youngsters in F1 and made his debut at Renault, headed by Briatore, before being hired by McLaren as Lewis Hamilton's teammate in 2008.
However, Kovalainen ended his management contract with Briatore at the end of 2009, when the Italian was banned from F1 due to the "crashgate" scandal.
"It was the biggest mistake of my career," Kovalainen, who now competes in the All Japan Rally Championship, told . "It definitely would have been worth it to stay on the same side of the table with Flavio instead of moving to the other side."
In fact, his next team after McLaren was Lotus-Caterham, which proved to be one of the slowest on the grid until its collapse.
"When my contract with McLaren was ending, I had to get a new one quickly, while the drivers managed by Flavio did not have a super license at that point," Kovalainen said.
"If I had waited until January of the following year, Flavio would have had his ban reversed and could have returned. Yes, Flavio could have made better deals for me, and he had made the best ones of my career before that episode."