The Formula One Opening Competition will take place after a six -year break on the classic Melbourne track in Australia. For Finnish formulas, this opening competition has offered several highlights.
So Mika Häkkinen (1998) than Kimi Raikkonen (2007) won the Melbourne opening competition during their championship season. Räikkönen celebrated his last number one place in his F1 career in the 2013 opening competition in Melbourne. Valtteri Bottas has been responsible for the previous Finnish win in Australia (2019).
Finnish F1 race drivers are not seen in the opening over the weekend or probably throughout the season 2025, but there is still Finnish color on the legendary track of Melbourne.
The hot formula hope of Finland Tuukka Taponen Starts their first and important season in F3.
All F2 and F3 competitions will be run in connection with F1 weekends. There are ten weekends in the Formula 3 series.
In addition to Melbourne, the F3 race drivers drive on the lines of Bahrain, Imola, Monaco, Barcelona, Austria, Silverstone, Span, Hungary and Monza.
For Taponen, the Albert Park track is a new acquaintance. Familiar places in previous little formula classes include the lines of Imola, Barcelona, Monza and Spa.
– Four of the ten tracks are new tracks for me. I know the tracks, but even if you drive with a simulator, it’s always a different thing to get there, Taponen says.
The style of the upcoming F1 driver
Taponen has done a good result year after year. He won the World Championship and three World Championship medals with Karting.
The two -year -old formulara has gone great. Two years ago, he was second in the F4 Middle East series and fifth in the Italian F4 and the second best newcomer.
Last year was more convincing when a young Finn who driven in the R-Ace GP stable initially won the Middle East Championship in Regional class.
Later that year in the same class in the European series, he achieved four number one place and struggled for a long time for the Brazilian championship Rafael Camaran with.
Taponen was finally third in his first season. By comparison, Camara, one year older, drove his second year in that series.
As the results can be deduced from the results of Taponen, the imprint has been steady. It is a style in which formula talent is nowadays surviving Formula One.
Ferrari also values Taponen’s formulas. That is why the Lohja -based driver talent has been almost two and a half years at the Ferrari’s renowned Academy.
The same Academy has been visited by Ferrari’s Ferrar Charles Leclerc as well as 19-year-old Ollie Bearman.
You can’t afford to burst
Although Taponen’s previous achievements are known to the people, F3 is the first actual watershed in Taponen’s career.
Usually the F3 and F2 series are places that distinguish the grains from the chains. The success of the equipment should not be caught in a talented Finn.
The Finn drives a top stable at Art. The French team cars have celebrated several F2 and F3 series championships in the 2000s.
Taponen’s teammates are driven by Ferrari Academy’s ex-protector known from previous classes James Wharton (AUS) as well as the Dutchman in their second season in F3 Laurens van Hole.
The determined Finn always chases the championship, but also understands that you can’t afford any kind of crap. The minimum target is to reach the top three.
– Must be steadily good. You don’t always have to win competitions, but for example, top5 places go a long way. Of course, you are not looking for such, but you have to keep in mind in competition situations that you can’t take terrible risks. Each point is important in such a flat series, Taponen is aware.
Real top stables
So art has been the top of the F3 series year after year. The previous ART’s car by the f3 championship is French Victor Martins from 2022.
Last season Tallin Bulgarian driver Nikola Tsolov reached three number one and Australian Christian Mansell was fifth in the overall situation. At the stables, Art was third after the Italian Preman and Trident.
The F3 Series brings an additional loop in the new season that everyone has a new prototype cars at their disposal.
Art should, in principle, be one of the strongest teams, but last year F2 saw how completely new cars were causing problems for the durable Prem.
With superhalates that formed the stable’s driver two Kimi Antonell And Bearman did not have the slightest chance of fighting the championship in terms of equipment.
However, Taponen trusts that the top teams of recent years are basically the best with new cars.
Driver’s long -term manager Jussi Kohtala Also relying on Art’s competitiveness with new cars.
– If the jockey knows how to do, I believe that the stable will also be able to do it. In 2022 they won the F3 Championship and in 2023 F2 Championship (Theo Pourchaire). I believe the package is strong.
There are 30 drivers in the series. Since last season, the turnover has been high. Along with Taponen, many other potential top drivers run in the series for their first year.
Such drivers include, among others, teammate Wharton, Ferrari’s Academy Rafael Camara and a couple of races on Ferrari Kimi Räikkönen as a teammate Luca Bader son Brandon.
From the point of view of the championship battle, Kohtala considers experienced drivers who drive in the series for their second year. Such names are Norwegian Martinius stenshorne and Taponen’s teammate Laurens Van Hole.
– There are 5-10 friends who can fight for winnings, Kohtala adds and refers to Tapose.
Better than Raikkonen
The fact that the F3 competitions are in connection with the F1 weekends is a valuable experience for Taponen.
The Finn got a sense of this class last season when he spent the Belgian legendary SPA motorway Tsolovia.
After their F3 and F2, the drivers of F1 Academies often follow the f1 race of their organizations.
For example, last season saw how Kimi Antonelli, a top -notch newcomer of Mercedes this season, regularly followed the team manager Toto Wolff Next to the F1 track events.
The driver of the Academy learns, but can be visible to millions of viewers around the world through the same screen.
Taponen may be seen in the upcoming F1 season watching Ferrari’s Piktuktua race together with a team manager Frederic Vasseur with.
Other drivers of the Ferrari Academy are Camara and Sweden, who competes in F2 Dino Beganovic.
– They are really big events. When I got one race in the stable last season, after all, it was different than the smaller classes I had driven. This is a clearly bigger step up. You can be in big circles and see a lot of different drivers, Taponen knows.
– However, we have a focus on Easter and focus on our own stuff, Taponen and Kohtala recall.
Taponen lives most of the year in Maranello, Italy.
Kimi Räikkönen, who has won one of the world championships for Ferrari, who has won one of the teams, became known for not being interested in talking to Italy.
Does Italy be better than Ferrari’s last champion?
– I believe it will fold better. At least I think I understand well, but talking is still challenging.