In the Midst of Japanese GP, Lewis Hamilton Takes Time to Wish Hospitalised Former Teammate

Lewis Hamilton has had an illustrious Formula 1 career. He has raced with some of the sport’s toughest competitors and cultivated a good relationship with several fellow drivers and teammates. One of them is his old McLaren teammate, Heikki Kovalainen, whom he reached out to and wished a speedy recovery.

The Finnish racing driver has recently undergone open-heart surgery and is now recuperating at home. Reacting to his update on X (formerly Twitter), the #44 driver replied, “Get well soon Heikki, praying for you.”

Little update regarding the last few months – I was diagnosed with ascending aortic aneurysm which required open heart surgery, and was operated on last week. Now recovery continues at home pic.twitter.com/MidACx3vIF

— Heikki Kovalainen (@H_Kovalainen) April 6, 2024

Kovalainen became Hamilton‘s teammate when Fernando Alonso departed the team at the end of the 2007 season. The duo were teammates for two seasons (2008 and 2009). During this stint, Hamilton outpaced the Finn 24-10 in a head-to-head battle in Grands Prix—which has been corrected for mechanical failures.

While the Silver Arrows’ talisman, Hamilton would be having Heikki in his thoughts, the sum total of his focus will now be shifted to the Grand Prix. After yet another difficult session behind the wheel of the W15, Hamilton will start the Japanese Grand Prix from 7th on the grid.

Despite disappointing Quali, Lewis Hamilton has high hopes for the race

Mercedes haven’t been able to give Hamilton the car that can fight for wins, poles, and championships for quite a while. And a testament to that has been his performances in the season’s opening races. At the Suzuka International Circuit, he had yet another frustrating outing.

GPBlog.com quoted him as saying, “I’m naturally not happy with P7, of course.” However, given how close the gaps were during the qualifying session, he had high hopes for the race to come.

After missing out on the podium at the Australian GP, Max Verstappen will start in the pole position for the Japanese GP after edging out Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.

McLaren’s Lando Norris took 3rd ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. 7 time world champion Lewis Hamilton will… pic.twitter.com/buODSJbtqC

— Carol Radull (@CarolRadull) April 6, 2024

“I think it’s gonna be really close between us all. If you look at qualifying, everyone is within half a tenth or whatever, the top seven or eight. I think it’s very, very, very close, so I hope where I put the car is going to be good in the race tomorrow,” concluded the #44 driver.