Lewis Hamilton sends message as F1 race-winner undergoes open-heart surgery

07 April 2024 , 04:45

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Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton were F1 team-mates for two years at McLaren (Image: Getty Images)

Former Formula 1 racer Heikki Kovalainen has undergone successful open-heart surgery in the USA.

The Finn, who raced alongside Lewis Hamilton for two seasons at McLaren, revealed earlier this week that he had been diagnosed with an enlarged aorta. To fix the problem, the 42-year-old needed to go under the knife.

Kovalainen, who also raced for Renault, Caterham and Lotus, said the problem was discovered late last year. He has been rallying since his time in F1 came to an end, but has had to put that career on hold after a physical exam revealed the heart issue.

In a video on social media, Kovalainen confirmed that his surgery in Florida had been a success. He said: "I was diagnosed with an ascending aortic aneurysm at the end of last year. Basically, a piece of the ascending aorta that was dilated quite a lot.

"I was actually operated on last week in Tampa at the University Hospital, in the heart hospital unit there. There was a wonderful team of doctors and nurses and assistants that took care of me there. It was an open heart surgery, so I have a [scar] forever now under this shirt on my chest.

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"But the surgery went well and we managed to get done exactly what we were planning to do. The outlook is quite good. There is an opportunity to make a full recovery and regain full fitness, but of course time will only tell eventually how it all works out. But so far the estimation is quite good, so I'm very pleased with that."

Kovalainen was inundated with messages of support from racing stars and famous Finnish faces. Hamilton himself wrote: "Get well soon Heikki, praying for you," while former Chelsea and Birmingham City footballer Mikael Forssell added: "Strength for your recovery, Heikki."

Speaking exclusively to Mirror Sport last March, Kovalainen looked back on his F1 career and admitted his opportunity with the championship-winning Renault team came too early. "At the start of my Formula 1 career I was given a good car too quickly and I wasn't ready," he said.

"I feel like I've never been a super good learner. I would have needed a bit of time to build up - I'm more of a building up kind of guy. I feel I would have had the potential to become a pretty good, better-than-average Formula 1 driver. I'm not sure I would have been a Hamilton, a Senna or a Schumacher! But I could have been a good asset to many teams had things gone differently."

He started 111 F1 races but that career came to an end in 2013 after a couple of outings with Lotus. He added: "Of course, I would have liked to have continued for longer in Formula 1, but I've got over that now and I'm not sore about it anymore."

Daniel Moxon