The awardee’s name is announced correctly, but Max Verstappen stretch out Tuukka Taponen world championship trophy for the wrong driver.
The episode that happened at the International Automobile Federation’s FIA award gala in December 2021 seems to underline how, when building a Formula 1 career, you have to be in the right place at the right time.
Taponen was in the Louvre in Paris to receive his award as the new karting world champion and heard during the practice that Verstappen would hand him his award. Due to a mistake by the organizers, Taponen, who was dressed in a tuxedo, had to watch with embarrassment when the F1 champion gave his trophy to the driver who was standing next to him and won the second class championship.
Despite the celebratory trophy shuffle, the right upright is now on the shelf at Taponen’s home in Lohja. Maybe it still has Verstappen’s fingerprints on it.
Tuukka Taponen already tasted victory at the age of five, in the first karting competition of his life. By a funny coincidence, they were also on the starting line in the same race Kimi Räikkönen nephews.
You immediately beat two Räikkös at once?
– Yes, Tuukka laughs.
“Every weekday and holiday morning, he whispered: Shall we go for a drive?”
Tuukka Taponen was practically raised to be a racing driver, because his father bought him a go-kart when he was already 2.5 years old. He practically spent the first years of his life in jockey pits, because Marko-father continued competing in the everyman class that his own father had already started. According to the mother, the sounds of the competition were like a lullaby for Tuuka.
– As a child, Tuukka used to sleep in the jockey races in the carriage with hearing protectors on his ears. When the driving ended and the rattling stopped, he immediately opened his eyes and woke up. He was so used to the chatter and noise. When he was a little older, he always watched his father’s jockey videos and played with small cars while narrating the events. He wasn’t interested in Moomins or other children’s programs, Satu Taponen tells.
However, Tuukka has never driven a jockey car. According to Marko Taponen, he already had in mind when he bought a karting car that it would at least theoretically be possible to compete abroad in the sport and go far if the enthusiasm is enough. Little Tuukka was driving his first-meter go-kart in the yard of his father’s garage. A rope was tied behind the car and the driver made sure that the speed did not increase too much.
– At first, he looked more backwards while driving and hit a bit of a stone. We instructed to look ahead. He drove around the hall hundreds of times before we went to Vihti’s track. The first time on the track, he didn’t drive out once. I had told him in the pit to follow the black tire marks on the track. That’s where the excitement started. Every weekday and holiday morning he whispered: “Shall we go for a drive?” Marko Taponen recalls.
Father’s jockey hobby soon changed to the role of karting mechanic.
Without significant supporters, the road rises
On May Day 2024, Tuukka Taponen steps on his manager Jussi Kohtalan with towards the Wihuri Group’s head office in Kulosaari, Helsinki. The casually dressed duo is going to tell their sponsor about their news on the eve of the new competition season.
As guests, they have a small filled cake, because the purpose is to drink medal coffees in honor of the Formula Regional Middle East championship title won by Taponen at the beginning of the year. Taponen’s karting hobby has come a long way. He could hardly dream of something like this after driving his first karting competition abroad, in Adria, Italy.
– It was a slightly smaller competition and I was sixth, as I remember. The experience was great, but at the time I thought that I might never be able to drive abroad again. That’s why I collected a few nice-looking stones from the side of the track as a souvenir.
Since then, Taponen became the first Finnish driver to win the karting world championship and twice the World Championship silver. In the second fall, the way to Ferrari’s driver academy opened. Taponen is currently fighting for the top positions in the Formula Regional Euroseries and is second in the points after three races. The F3 and F2 series loom as the next stages. F1 could be a reality in the 2028 season.
Businessman Antti Aarnio-Wihurin the interest in motor sports at one time had a significant effect on the fact that Valtteri Bottas was able to rise to Formula One and move from the Williams team to the top team Mercedes, when the driving position Nico Rosberg’s after the termination notice suddenly opened. According to Aarnio-Wihur, they supported Botta with several million euros.
– The total amount invested in him was around 20 million. The higher you go, the amounts practically double according to the class. Yes, they were already several million in the first (F1) season, says Antti Aarnio-Wihuri.
What kind of sum are we talking about in the case of Tuukka Taponen?
– Several hundred thousand have gone there.
– You have to remember that he is still in the early stages of his career and there is a long way to the top. Anything can happen along the way. It’s not about the obvious. The driver must also always be ready for hard work.
Manager Kohtala first contacted Wihur from Tuukka Taponen’s team six years ago.
– Wihuri didn’t go along at that point, but they stayed to follow the development of Tuukka’s karting career. Later, they were able to state that the goals we had set at that time had also been realized, even faster and better than the original plan.
When Kohtala noticed Taponen’s talent years ago, he asked him to be the driver of his own karting team.
First from a customer base, but when the result came, he started to take more of a role in acquiring partners and mentoring the driver. According to Kohtala, there is a clear reason for Taponen’s specialness.
– Tuukka has always been a driver who wants to win. He is extremely hard working in those areas where there is room for improvement.
Satu Taponen confirms the view.
– Tuukka is very determined. Even when she was little, she wanted to be in bed by nine in the evening and ready for the races in the morning. In the karting pit, many boys ran around a bit in the evenings and between races. Tuukka, on the other hand, focused on cleaning his car to be immediately ready when we drive again.
According to the mother, you could also immediately tell from the boy’s body language if the race had not gone according to plan.
– That’s when he kept the helmet visor tightly closed when returning to the pit. That’s when you knew it was worth waiting a while and asking about the race rumors only then.
Although Taponen is now a member of Ferrari’s driver academy for the second year and lives in Maranello, glamor is far from his everyday life. According to his own words, the attic apartment is located in the middle of nowhere, and the driver’s license of the 17-year-old Finnish prospect is not yet valid in Italy.
He is given a specific weekly program and every morning at 9:30 a ride picks him up at Ferrari, where, for example, gym and mental exercises take place depending on the day.
All academy drivers have their own program, because usually the competition programs are also different.
Last fall, Taponen met briefly with the other academy drivers and Ferrari’s F1 team manager by Frédéric Vasseur. This message was catchy.
– He said that they are looking for super talents, the good ones are no longer enough. Drivers have to drive for championships.
Manager Kohtala admits that the young driver aiming for Formula 1 lives like a pressure cooker, but does not consider it a problem for his protégé.
– As a concrete example of the ability to withstand pressure, the World Cup karting competitions that are run from time to time are. In them, you have to succeed in qualifying, preliminaries, super heats and finals, and during the race week you practically can’t afford a single crash or your own mistake if you want the top positions. Tuukka has raced in four World Cup competitions and the balance of the last three was two World Cup silvers and a world championship.
Learning from the former formula promise
According to Taponen, he tries to respond to external pressure for results simply by doing things as well as possible.
For example, all the smallest things related to driving are checked from the data, starting from the warm-up lap, to see that everything is going right. In practice, the driver spends more time on the track with his race engineer than at the wheel of the race car himself.
However, few engineers have their own driving background. That’s why Kohtala asked for the formula promise of previous years Aaro Vainiota As Taponen’s driving coach and as an auxiliary link between the driver and the engineer. Vainio has already worked as a driving coach for the French team R-Ace GP represented by Taponen this season. According to Kohtala, Vainio’s role is one example of how they strive to utilize all possible competitive advantages.
– After his driving career, Aaro has also worked as an engineer, so he understands both the engineer’s and the driver’s point of view. Such an entity is rare. When Aaro is on competition and test trips with Tuukka practically 24/7, he is also able to see what Tuukka could do better.
At the time of the interview, Tuukka Taponen is visiting his hometown for a few days. He accumulates almost 300 travel days a year. At Urheilu’s request, he also spends time at the source of his career, i.e. the Vihti karting track. He drove there two or three times a week for a decade.
– My parents’ contribution has been invaluable. Without their support I would not have been able to train and compete.
Now Tuukka Tapose has significant supporters behind him, but at the same time career development is a kind of tightrope dance where no false steps are allowed. The printout should be done quickly in each class, otherwise the driver status will decrease. However, bends cannot be straightened.
– Moving forward quickly can be a big risk. If you perform poorly in one season, that’s it. You can’t get into a good team anymore and then it’s hard to make a result. We strive to make results all the time, but luck is also needed.
Tuukka Taponen estimates that he has driven almost a hundred thousand laps on the Vihti karting track over the years. Then he says with a simple smile:
– I don’t think there is a driver in the world who would beat me here.