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Finland is out of F1 drivers for the first time since the 1980s – but why?

Finland may only have 5.6 million inhabitants – just 0.07% of the world’s population – yet it has contributed greatly to the history of Formula 1.

The Nordic country acknowledged that it has never hosted Grand Prix racing, nor does it have a team in the world championship. Nevertheless, its nine drivers who competed in F1 also had seven podium finishers (including mika salo and Jyrki Jarvilehto, better known as JJ Lehto, five race winners (notably). Heikki Kovalainen And valtteri bottas) as well as three champions: Keke Rosberg, mika hakkinen And Kimi Raikkonen that doesn’t count nico rosberg Who was crowned champion in 2016, but raced under a German license from his second year in the F3 Euro Series campaign in 2004 until his sudden retirement from F1.

This is a surprisingly high win rate. Famous Finnish F1 journalist Heikki Kulta, in a quote from Räikkönen that is often misattributed, attributed the success in the Land of a Thousand Lakes to poor weather. “Our roads and long winters,” Kulta told The Telegraph in 2008. “You have to be a really good driver to survive in Finland. It’s always slippery and bumpy.”

A Grand Prix winner who raced in the same race as Renault, mclaren And at Lotus, Kovalainen doesn’t entirely agree.

“We get used to facing difficult, slippery conditions from a very young age,” he tells Motorsport.com. “Once we get out on the roads, I think these slippery You need to have better than average skills to survive and manage on the streets. Many people mention this often, but my feeling is that it is not as big a contributor as it may seem.

Instead, Kovalainen considers certain factors to be more influential. The first is an enduring passion for motorsport, in a country that has been even more successful in rallying.

The Finns’ track record in rallying is even better, and almost constant success in the discipline means they are often in the news – explains Kovalainen – for continuing to inspire future generations.

Photo by: Sutton Images

From Ari Vatanen to Kalle Rovanperä, eight Finns have been world champions in this discipline; France is next with three. When Kovalainen was a kid, Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen were dominating the WRC, while Hakkinen was making waves in F1. It’s no surprise he took an interest in the sport, his post-F1 resume included a Super GT crown and back-to-back titles in the All-Japan Rally Championship.

“All these people were often in the news, so you couldn’t avoid seeing them, you saw them everywhere,” explains Kovalainen. “Maybe it influenced a lot of people like me – I watched the news, I watched the cars, I watched their speed, and maybe it increased the passion for motorsport.

“Maybe another reason is that Finnish people have a very neutral mentality,” says the 43-year-old. “We are relatively neutral people, there are no super highs or super lows in our lives – we have very normal and average days. In that kind of high-pressure environment, that’s a good thing.

“There is a lot of pressure on you, you have to handle a lot of things and you are in the spotlight. If you can remain naturally calm and cool, it helps a lot. It seems that Finns don’t have to work too hard at it – even when the situation is tight and complicated, you stay cool and calm.

“I was surprised, because I thought that if Hulkenberg got the seat, Valtteri’s performance would be at least as good as Hulkenberg”
Heikki Kovalainen

The point is, unless one of these mercedes Racers get injured and Bottas stands down, 2025 will be the first F1 season without a Finnish driver since 1988, with Lehto making his debut with Onyx during the last four rounds. Bottas, 35, has been unable to retain his seat on the grid after failing to score a point in the struggling conditions. Sauber In 2024, while the Kovalainen and Raikkonen of the previous generation are long gone.

The new Mercedes reserve driver clearly prefers to keep a positive outlook ahead of the 2026 transfer market – “In my mind, this is still not my last race,” he said in Abu Dhabi – but for now, it is a reality.

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“I saw it coming, so I’m not totally surprised,” says Kovalainen. “Certainly, in the second half of last year, it was becoming even more clear that Valtteri would also not continue as a race driver.

“When Sauber didn’t want to sign and they signed Hulkenberg before Valtteri, I was surprised, because I thought that if Hulkenberg got the seat, Valtteri’s performance would be at least as good as Hulkenberg. I think there are probably some marketing reasons behind it, but if it’s a marketing-driven decision then it’s a bit disappointing, because usually big brands like this – if you want to be a top team, you’re based on performance. Drivers are selected, not for marketing reasons.

Bottas loses his race drive to Sauber for 2025, ending F1's long streak of having the Finn on the grid

Bottas loses his race drive to Sauber for 2025, ending F1’s long streak of having the Finn on the grid

Photo by: Jack Mauger/Motorsport Images

“Having said that, Hulkenberg has performed quite well, I’m not saying he’s the wrong guy. But Valtteri being there for three years and then not re-signing, it kind of gave me the feeling that there was something missing in that relationship – something that they didn’t like about Valtteri, or they didn’t feel like he matched them. Have plans.”

The problem is that no Finnish driver has come close to leading the championship since Bottas debuted in 2013 Williams In fact, the only youngster to race in F1’s main feeder series (F2 or previously GP2) in the last fifteen years was Nico Cari, who was a Red Bull junior until 2016–17 after winning the SMP F4 series.

Kari then finished tenth in his first European F3 and GP3 campaigns, which was not enough to retain his place in the academy. His only (unsuccessful) foray into F2 came in the final two rounds of 2018, and he has not done any significant racing since the 2020 European Le Mans Series.

Why are there so few Finns in junior formulas recently?

“It’s a good question, maybe I don’t have the right answer to it,” says Kovalainen, who is set to help young Finnish drivers in single-seaters or rallying, having sought the advice of Keke Rosberg himself. -Upcoming Racer. “It’s a question we’ve debated here in the Formula 1 studio even when I do some TV work. There is no clear agreement between us.

“The difference between nowadays and in my time, when I was one of the first people to join the Renault junior program and Renault was one of the first people to actually set up a junior program – in those days, the main thing was that I was part of that programme. So, they paid for all my races in the junior categories.

“But nowadays, as I understand, even if you are selected in ferrari Mercedes or any other junior program, most people still have to bring some budget themselves – and that’s quite a big hurdle, because the budget is quite big, and Finland is not that big a market, especially nowadays when the economy is struggling. In general, this is a difficult time for a lot of companies, a lot of people and families. It’s especially difficult to raise money for something like racing. I think that’s probably part of the reason.

“The other side is that very good people get selected. If you are able to show that you are an excellent talent and that you are doing something special, those people will still be selected. As it has become difficult to raise finance, at the same time some junior drivers may look in the mirror and find the reason there too.

Kovalainen reached F1 thanks to Renault's support during his early career, but there were no guarantees of making it (as Loic Duval and José-Maria López discovered), which only highlights the challenge for the Finns.

Kovalainen reached F1 thanks to Renault’s support during his early career, but there were no guarantees of making it (as Loic Duval and José-Maria López discovered), which only highlights the challenge for the Finns.

Photo by: Renault F1

“You really have to do something special every now and then. I don’t think you necessarily need to win all the junior championships or all the races you go to, but you have to do something outstanding, something that people appreciate. Maybe this is also something that is missing from people trying to make a Formula 1 career.

Don’t get him wrong, Kovalainen doesn’t mean he had it easy.

“It was clear very early on that as long as I do my job well, they’re happy, they can advance my career, they can take me to the next level every time,” says the former Renault protégé. Are.” “But at the same time, there was a lot of competition. There were (six) of us at the beginning of the Renault Junior programme, and eventually I was the only one who completed it and became a Renault Formula 1 driver.

“I didn’t win every championship I entered, but every year I was able to take a few pole positions, win a few races and raise a few eyebrows. They loved it, and that was basically the key to getting me to F1.”

Importantly, there will be a Finn in Formula 3 this year: Tuukka Tapponen, who has been part of the Ferrari Driver Academy for two years

Recently, French-Finnish youngster Marcus Amand shone in karting by winning the 2019 CIK-FIA European Championship in the OK-Junior category, but his single-seater career did not take off. Amand went without a win in three years in Formula 4 and Formula Regional and moved to the Porsche Carrera Cup France last year.

Importantly, there will be a Finn in Formula 3 this year: Tuukka Tapponen, who has been part of the Ferrari Driver Academy for two years. Tapponen is a three-time Finnish karting champion and also won the world title in 2021. Last year, he won the Formula Regional Middle East championship, then came third in the European series behind Rafael Camara and James Wharton, current and former Ferrari juniors respectively. ,

The 18-year-old from Lohja, 30 miles west of Helsinki, is now tackling F3 with the ART Grand Prix outfit, following the success of a fellow countryman in that championship (then called GP3) with the same team.

“ART GP is a familiar team to us Finns. For example, Valtteri Bottas won a championship with the ART GP Team before moving up to the Formula 1 series,” explained Tapponen. Had he followed Bottas 14 years later, the youngster would have taken the F3 title as a rookie before graduating to F1 in 2027…

Could Tapponen become Finland's next big F1 hope?

Could Tapponen become Finland’s next big F1 hope?

Photo by: ART Grand Prix

in this article

ben vinell

formula 1

Heikki Kovalainen

valtteri bottas

tuukka taponen

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