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

Finland might have simply 5.6 million inhabitants – simply 0.07% of the world’s inhabitants – but it has immensely contributed to Formulation 1’s historical past.

The Nordic nation admittedly has by no means hosted grand prix racing, and neither has it had any groups on this planet championship. Nonetheless, amongst its 9 drivers competing in F1, there have been seven podium finishers (together with Mika Salo and Jyrki Jarvilehto, higher often known as JJ Lehto), 5 race winners (notably Heikki Kovalainen and Valtteri Bottas) in addition to three champions: Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen. That’s not counting Nico Rosberg, who was topped in 2016 however raced below a German licence from his sophomore F3 Euro Collection marketing campaign in 2004 till his shock retirement from F1.

That’s a surprisingly excessive victory charge. In a quote usually wrongly attributed to Raikkonen, well-known Finnish F1 journalist Heikki Kulta attributed this success to the extreme climate within the land of a thousand lakes. “Our roads and lengthy winters,” Kulta advised The Telegraph in 2008. “You actually need to be driver to outlive in Finland. It’s at all times slippery and bumpy.”

A grand prix winner who raced for the likes of Renault, McLaren and Lotus, Kovalainen doesn’t utterly agree.

“We get used to type of robust, slippery situations from a really younger age,” he tells Autosport. “As soon as we get on the roads, I assume you’ll want to have some type of better-than-average talent to outlive and handle to remain on these slippery roads. Many individuals usually point out that, however my feeling is that it’s not as large a contributor as it might sound.”

As a substitute, Kovalainen views a few components as extra influential. The primary one is a permanent ardour for motorsport, in a rustic that has been much more profitable in rallying.

From Ari Vatanen to Kalle Rovanpera, eight Finns have been world champions on this self-discipline; France is subsequent with three. When Kovalainen was a child, Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Makinen had been dominating the WRC, whereas Hakkinen was making waves in F1. It’s no shock he took an curiosity on this sport, along with his post-F1 resume together with a Tremendous GT crown and back-to-back titles within the All-Japan Rally Championship.

“All these guys, they had been fairly often within the information, so that you couldn’t keep away from seeing them, you simply noticed them in all places,” Kovalainen explains. “Maybe that affected lots of people like myself – I noticed the information, I noticed the vehicles, I noticed the speeds they had been doing, and that maybe grew the eagerness in direction of motorsport.

“Possibly the opposite purpose is the Finnish individuals’s mentality is kind of impartial,” the 43-year-old provides. “We’re comparatively impartial individuals, we don’t have tremendous highs or tremendous lows in our lives – we have now fairly odd and type of common days. In that type of high-pressure setting, it’s factor.

“You’ve got loads of strain, you’re within the highlight with loads of issues to handle. For those who can keep calm and funky naturally, that helps lots. Finns don’t appear to wish to work tremendous onerous on that – even when the state of affairs is tight and complex, you keep calm and funky.”

“I used to be stunned, as a result of I assumed if Hulkenberg will get the seat, Valtteri’s performances are at the least nearly as good as Hulkenberg’s”
Heikki Kovalainen

The factor is, until one of many Mercedes racers will get injured and Bottas stands in, 2025 would be the first F1 season with out a Finnish driver since 1988, the 12 months earlier than Lehto made his debut with Onyx over the last 4 rounds. Bottas, 35, has been unable to retain a seat on the grid after failing to attain a degree aboard a struggling Sauber in 2024, whereas Kovalainen and Raikkonen from the earlier technology are lengthy gone.

The new Mercedes reserve driver clearly prefers to maintain a constructive outlook forward of the 2026 switch market – “In my thoughts, it’s nonetheless not my final race,” he mentioned in Abu Dhabi – however for now, that’s a actuality.

“I’ve seen it coming, so I’m not completely stunned,” Kovalainen says. “Definitely, the second half of final 12 months, it was getting much more apparent that even Valtteri was not going to be persevering with as a race driver.

“When Sauber didn’t wish to signal and so they signed Hulkenberg earlier than Valtteri, I used to be stunned, as a result of I assumed if Hulkenberg will get the seat, Valtteri’s performances are at the least nearly as good as Hulkenberg’s. I assume there are in all probability some advertising and marketing causes behind it, however that could be a bit disappointing if it’s a marketing-driven choice, as a result of often that type of large manufacturers – if you wish to grow to be a prime crew, you select the drivers primarily based on efficiency, not on advertising and marketing causes.

Bottas misplaced his race drive at Sauber for 2025, ending a prolonged streak of F1 having a Finn on the grid

Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Pictures

“Having mentioned that, Hulkenberg has carried out fairly nicely, I’m not saying he’s the improper man there. However Valtteri being there for 3 years after which not re-signed, it type of made me really feel that there’s one thing that’s lacking in that relationship – one thing that they don’t like about Valtteri, or they don’t suppose that he’s matching their plans.”

The issue is, no Finnish driver has come near becoming a member of the championship since Bottas’ debut in 2013 with Williams. Actually, the one teen to race in F1’s foremost feeder collection (F2 or beforehand GP2) within the final fifteen years was Niko Kari, who was a Crimson Bull junior from 2016-17 after profitable the SMP F4 collection.

Kari then took tenth place in his maiden European F3 and GP3 campaigns, which didn’t suffice to retain his spot within the academy. His (unsuccessful) solely foray into F2 got here within the final two rounds of 2018, and he hasn’t carried out any substantial racing because the 2020 European Le Mans Collection.

Why have there been so few Finns in junior formulae recently?

“That could be a good query, I in all probability don’t have the suitable reply to that,” says Kovalainen, who’s open to serving to out younger Finnish drivers in single-seaters or rallying, having himself sought Keke Rosberg’s recommendation as an up-and-coming racer. “It’s a query that we’ve additionally debated within the Formulation 1 studios right here once I do some TV work. We don’t have a transparent consensus. 

“The distinction these days to, for instance, my time, once I was one of many first ones to hitch the Renault junior programme and Renault was one of many first ones to truly arrange a junior programme – these days, the primary factor that I obtained from that programme was the monetary help. So, they paid all my racing within the junior classes.

“However these days, as I perceive, even in case you are chosen right into a Ferrari, Mercedes or another junior programme, a lot of the guys nonetheless need to carry some funds themselves – and that’s fairly an enormous impediment, as a result of the budgets are fairly enormous, and Finland just isn’t that large a market, particularly these days when the financial system is struggling. Typically, it’s a tough time for lots of the businesses, for lots of people and households. It’s particularly tough to boost cash for one thing like racing. I believe that’s in all probability a part of the explanation.

“The opposite facet can also be that the superb ones do get picked up. If you’ll be able to present that you’re an impressive expertise and you might be doing one thing particular, these guys are nonetheless picked up. In addition to funds have been tough to boost, on the similar time among the junior drivers in all probability can look within the mirror and discover a part of the explanation there as nicely.

Kovalainen reached F1 due to help from Renault throughout his early profession, however that was no assure of constructing it (as Loic Duval and Jose-Maria Lopez found), which solely illustrates the problem for Finns

Photograph by: Renault F1

“You actually need to do one thing particular every so often. I don’t suppose you’ll want to win essentially all of the junior championships or all of the races that you just go into, however you must do one thing excellent, one thing that folks decide up on. Possibly that’s additionally one thing that’s been lacking with the fellows who attempt to construct a Formulation 1 profession.”

Don’t get him improper, Kovalainen doesn’t imply that he had it straightforward.

“It was fairly clear from very early on that so long as I do my job nicely sufficient, that they’re joyful, they will progress my profession, they will take me to the subsequent degree each time,” the previous Renault protege relates. “However on the similar time, there was loads of competitors. There have been [six] of us on the very starting of the Renault junior programme, and I used to be finally the one one who made all of it the best way and have become a Renault Formulation 1 driver.

“I didn’t win each championship that I entered, however yearly I used to be capable of take some pole positions, win some races and lift some eyebrows. They appreciated that, and that was the important thing, mainly, to then take me all the best way to F1.”

Crucially, there will likely be a Finn in Formulation 3 this 12 months: Tuukka Taponen, who has been a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy for 2 years

Extra not too long ago, French-Finnish teen Marcus Amand shone in karting by profitable the 2019 CIK-FIA European Championship within the OK-Junior class, however his single-seater profession didn’t take off. Amand took no wins in three years in Formulation 4 and Formulation Regional, and switched to Porsche Carrera Cup France final 12 months.

Crucially, there will likely be a Finn in Formulation 3 this 12 months: Tuukka Taponen, who has been a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy for 2 years. Taponen is a three-time Finnish karting champion and likewise took a world title in 2021. Final 12 months, he gained the Formulation Regional Center East Championship, then got here third within the European collection behind Rafael Camara and James Wharton, respectively present and former Ferrari juniors.

The 18-year-old from Lohja, 30 miles west of Helsinki, is now tackling F3 with the ART Grand Prix outfit, preserving in thoughts a fellow countryman’s success in that championship (then referred to as GP3) with the identical squad.

“ART GP is a well-known crew to us Finns. For instance, Valtteri Bottas gained the championship with ART GP crew earlier than transferring as much as the Formulation 1 collection,” Taponen identified. If he had been to emulate Bottas 14 years later, the teen would take the F3 title as a rookie earlier than graduating to F1 in 2027…

Can Taponen grow to be Finland’s subsequent large F1 hope?

Photograph by: ART Grand Prix