Flavio Briatore twice blocked Heikki Kovalainen’s formula one race debut, according to a Finnish report.<\/p>\n
The Turun Sanomat newspaper said the 29-year-old, who in 2010 is contesting his fourth season with a third separate team, could have made his debut in 2004.<\/p>\n
Actually, Kovalainen debuted in 2007 with Renault, then run by his former manager Briatore.<\/p>\n
But he tested with Minardi as far back as late 2003 and was almost signed for the following season by the Faenza based team’s boss Paul Stoddart.<\/p>\n
At the same test was Jose Maria Lopez, Kovalainen recalls.<\/p>\n
“I was clearly faster than him,” he said.\u00a0 “Paul Stoddart would have offered the seat to me, I was ready, but my management had a different view.”<\/p>\n
According to the report, another opportunity for Kovalainen came ahead of the 2005 season, when he met with Williams’ Sir Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Sam Michael at Grove.<\/p>\n
But Briatore reportedly called off the talks when he decided that Kovalainen should contest a season of GP2 before becoming Renault’s full-time test driver in 2006.<\/p>\n
“Of course, each time when you have a chance to go into F1 and you don’t, you are disappointed,” Kovalainen confirmed.<\/p>\n
He split with Briatore after last year’s crashgate scandal, and negotiated his own move from McLaren to Lotus for 2010.<\/p>\n
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