PARIS –– If anyone was born to drive, then it’s Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen. The Formula One newboy learned to love speed as a five-year-old admiring his mother’s skills at handling a car on the treacherous winter roads of Scandinavia.

“I couldn’t touch the pedals so my father put me on his knee. He operated the pedals while I steered the car,” said Kovalainen who has the unenviable task of replacing double world champion Fernando Alonso at Renault this season.

“They were long winters with all the snow but my mum was very strong when it came to handling a car on a slippy road.”

There will be doubters who expect the 25-year-old to have plenty of slippery moments in his debut year with the world championship team but Renault boss Flavio Briatore has liked what he has seen.

The man who helped Michael Schumacher and Alonso into the big time has no fears for his new driver who captured the GP2 title in 2005 before serving his time as Renault test driver in 2006.

Kovalainen has the psychological edge of having already beaten the now-retired seven-time F1 world champion Schumacher as well as world rally champion Sebastien Loeb at the exhibition Race of Champions at the Stade de France here in 2005.

But Kovalainen isn’t reading too much into that end-of-year triumph. “I haven’t come into Formula One saying ‘I beat Schumacher, I am the best’ because that was a charity event,” he said.

What he will be prepared for is to arrive at Melbourne for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 18 and be ready to learn and learn quickly.

“I’ll have three laps to learn a new circuit,” he said. “One to take in the turns, another to determine the breaking points and the third will be...’here we go!’.”

Kovalainen insists he won’t be intimidated by either the competition or new teammate, the vastly more experienced Giancarlo Fisichella.
His tactics will be simple, he says. “I like to attack, break late. I am aggressive behind the wheel,” he explained although he’s sorry that his debut season will see tyres employed that require “breaking earlier and going more slowly into the curves”.

The circuits at Monaco, Istanbul and Silverstone are where he is looking forward to be pushing and he has high hopes for the R27 car.

“It seems quick, I hope that it will be,” said the Finn. When he gets to Melbourne, however, he may not be pushing it too hard.

“I am going to Melbourne to finish the race and score points. If I give my best, who knows what will happen? But it’s the first race and I want to complete it.”

If the wins come, the Finn will treat himself to a new road car; at the moment, he is more often than not behind the wheel of a humble Renault Megane.

How about something a little more...exotic? “When I have won a few races and won the money, we’ll see!” smiled Kovalainen.