In a fascinating and insightful interview Formula 1 winner turned rally driver Heikki Kovalainen has talked DirtFish through his plan to overcome the heart condition which stopped his 2024 program in its tracks.
The Finn’s condition was detected in a routine medical examination last November. At 42 years old, he may not quite have been at the peak physical fitness he was when he won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix for McLaren, but he remained in great shape.
Kovalainen had, in fact, just contested the World Rally Championship’s Japanese round for a second time, where he was running third in WRC2 when transmission failure forced his retirement on Saturday’s second loop of stages.
Last year’s Japanese Rally Champion went to see a doctor in Helsinki after the season and everything changed.
Within weeks, any future rallying plans had to be put on hold. But Kovalainen reckons a comeback, perhaps next year, is realistic.
“It was quite a big surprise to all of us, myself and my family and everyone involved in our program,” Kovalainen told DirtFish.
“At the end of last year, actually after Rally Japan, I went just for a routine medical check-up that I do every year. This year, we planned to do a bit more thorough check-up. I have a doctor friend in Helsinki who suggested that since I haven’t [had] images of the organs or my neck or my spine for a long time, that we would do those this time.
The 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix was the Finn's day of days; it would be his only F1 victory
“Since my Formula 1 days, I haven’t had any proper images taken because there haven’t been any symptoms and sometimes I get a bit stubborn – you feel like there can’t be anything wrong when I feel so good. Anyway, he recommended, as I’m getting over 40 years old now. Obviously, every year for the license, you have to do certain medical check-ups and blood tests but we thought this year we’d do a bit more.
“When we were actually checking my heart with the ultrasound, we found immediately an issue. The cardiologist, I saw from her face, she was like, ‘OK, there’s something here’. She immediately then ordered me to go for a CT scan to get a bit more accurate result. The ultrasound is not super-accurate but we got the CT numbers and then she was like, ‘OK, we have an issue here’.”
Kovalainen was diagnosed with an ascending aortic aneurysm – an abnormal bulging and weakening of the aortic root where blood leaves the heart to go through the rest of the circulatory system.
“It’s already at the point where it’s a little bit dangerous for myself,” he calmly explains. “If it gets ruptured, it’s not an instant death but it’s a low survival rate. She said: ‘OK, we have to slow down the pace of your life now’. She said that you can play chess and golf but all the other things, please take care now.”
News of Kovalainen's condition came soon after his impressive showing in tricky conditions on last year's Rally Japan
Having overcome the initial shock, Kovalainen has spent the past three months understanding the problem and how best to deal with it. After a lifetime spent analyzing data to help him go faster, now it was time to put those data analytics skills to an altogether more important use.
“It was obviously a big shock at the time,” he admits. “It was the end of November when we found that out but since then, I’ve been just trying to then think, ‘OK, how can we fix this issue? What can we do about it?’
“I’ve consulted a lot of different professionals. I actually even went to Tokyo to see a surgeon there as well as a few different people in Finland – probably 10 people in total that I’ve seen.
“We all have pretty much an agreement now and it’s gotten to a point that it has to be operated. It’s not because we want to get back to rallying but it’s actually because the risk for rupture in an accident, even a daily accident, is relatively high.
“The operation threshold is met. They asked me the question, ‘Would you like to have the operation or not?’ We actually could continue life without the operation but there would be no rallying and obviously no anything that raises your heart rate or blood pressure.”
The 42-year-old is a regular in both the Finnish and Japanese Rally Championships, and is confident he will return to competition after his recovery
The thought of sitting behind an office desk for the rest of his life understandably did not appeal to a man used to living at high speed. Having consulted the professionals and educated himself via webinars and videos, Kovalainen weighed up the risks.
“I thought, well, I’m willing to take a little risk to get back to a more normal life. Whether it means that I get back to rallying, then time will tell. The odds are on my side, the outlook is relatively good. I think it’s about 95-96% chance that it goes well, the operation, but there’s always a risk for complications and the worst-case scenario is that you stay on the bed [where] they operate.
“But there’s always a risk for that to happen and, especially when you go rallying in the forest, there’s always a chance something goes wrong.
“The percentages are quite low for complications or some infections. So I don’t feel like it’s a big risk. I don’t feel like in my life I’ve been a big risk taker but controlled, thought risks, I’m always up for them, and this time I feel that it’s the right thing to do.
“It’s not fully yet decided that we will operate, but we are leaning towards the operation and hopefully we’ll get it scheduled soon and get it done and start recovering.”
Kovalainen is likely to go under the knife for open-heart surgery within the next month, before embarking on a recovery process which he hopes will get him back to full fitness within a year.
As a highly successful professional driver, Kovalainen has a pragmatic approach to taking risks
“The recovery depends on the patient, and obviously myself being relatively fit and well, no other conditions, other illnesses, it puts me in a good trajectory to recover.
“You have to open the chest and it’s a big operation where they actually stop the heart for a moment. So it is a big operation, but the doctors talk about it very casually, like it’s everyday life for them, so you’ve got to trust them.
“It’s not an emergency yet that we have to operate. Sometimes it can be that, but at the moment I could live without operating it. But one thing also that is leading towards the operation is that it looks like it’s in my genes, it runs in the family this condition, and in the next five to 10 years I’m most likely going to [need] the operation then anyway, because it gets to a point that it has to be operated.
“So then that’s also why we’re thinking that why not to do it while we’re still fit and well and get it done earlier.”
A return to Rally Japan this year might come a little soon for the Finn, but that won't stop him dreaming about it
Like any sports star sidelined by injury or ill health, Kovalainen has an urge to get back into action at the earliest opportunity. But he knows too that this is not the time to defy doctors’ advice.
“I still enjoy rallying and I still have the passion for rallying, so of course that’s part of the consideration in the back of my mind,” he admits. “Even though it’s not the most important thing, at the back of my mind I have the thought that [I’m] definitely going to get back to rallying once this is sorted.
“And the doctors are always saying probably a bit more pessimistic recovery period, saying that it can take time and you’ve got to take it easy. But I guess at the back of my mind I have a thinking, I can speed up that a bit.
“But this is serious things. Obviously you have to take your time, and if you rush things it can also cause complications, so you can’t take shortcuts with this.”
While a third outing on Rally Japan this year is a bit optimistic, targeting a debut on his home round of the WRC in 2025 is potentially more realistic.
“At the back of my mind sometimes I’m thinking, ‘Well how about the Rally Japan ’24, that’s at the end of this year,’” says the Finn. “But the doctor said to me: ‘Look, don’t go there, don’t start that!’. But I mean Rally Finland ’25, why not?
“It would be great to do the event one day, just simply to run in front of my home crowd. I’ve had a lot of support since my Formula 1 days and obviously motorsport is very popular in Finland. Formula 1 and rallying, people remember the names and the faces.
“It would be fun to run in front of the home crowd, but I think it would be not possible to try to target too high a result. I think actually to finish the rally would be challenging. The roads are super high-speed and if you make a small mistake, it can be a big problem. You would have to be patient and careful, but let’s see if it’s going to happen in the future.”
With the legendary Ouninpohja stage returning to Rally Finland’s itinerary, what better incentive for a Finn is there to get fit and healthy and back in the driving seat?
