Formulas | The mother drove from one job to another and looked for supporters for her talented child – now Tuukka Taponen, 15, is climbing the millionaire ladder in the F1 world

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When enters the home of the Taponen family, the sight is like a slice of Finnish everyday life. Guests are greeted by a barking dog, and on the other side of the threshold of the semi-detached house in Lohja, you can access the entrance hall that opens the home through a small air closet.

Kitchen and living room downstairs, bedrooms upstairs. A small yard opens in front of the front door.

No time at all, when the visitor steps into another world. In the living room, a collection of awards dawns in front of the stranger’s eyes, which almost makes one blush. Trophies, medals and memorabilia line both walls of the living room.

We are Tuukka Taponen at home.

In the middle of the trophy collection, Taponen’s greatest pride, the karting world championship trophy, rises. Lifting a 11 kg upright requires a bit of work.

Next to it, the round prize for the championship glitters. Taponen looks at that wistfully.

“It has to be returned today. Actually, I guess it should have been returned already,” he grins.

Taponen lives with his mother. He knows that he succeeded with his own skills and merits – and with the support of his devoted family and close circle. He doesn’t answer a single question with “I don’t shut up” or try to get out of the interview situation.

This is just part of his racing life – thighsas an older motorsport generation would say.

The boy’s own room is bulging with “lesser” trophies and memorabilia, among them fine driving helmets. In the corner of the room is Taponen’s own small driving simulator, which has spent a huge number of hours behind the wheel. The equipment, software, bench and other accessories cost about 6,000 euros.

Everything in a teenager’s life is geared towards racing, including going to school. Taponen is studying to become a racing car mechanic at the Omnia vocational school. He studies as much as he can in his more than 200 travel days.

“I can fix my go-kart if necessary. I’m probably not allowed to touch the formulas.”

I kill won the world championship in 2021 and finished second this year. The achievements are the highlights and best memories of his career so far.

After the competitions, they have traveled all over Finland and Europe and elsewhere.

In recent years, he has been a multi-tasker in Finnish motor sports Jussi Kohtala. But in the early years of Tuukka’s career, Tuukka and his father were practically the team Marko and mother Fairy tale.

“My father raced everyman class races when he was younger and has always been enthusiastic about motor sports. He wanted me to try it too, and he certainly hoped that I would get excited. I sat behind the wheel of a go-kart for the first time at the age of two. “At that age, it would have been a lot more difficult to reach Jokkisse”, tapons Taponen.

The father took the boy to Vihti’s track and introduced him to the game first hand. At first by pushing, but before long the engine was pedaling – with a very tightly set limiter.

“The limiter was somewhere at a speed of a few kilometers per hour. Dad tied a rope to the car and ran alongside it the whole time, making sure that nothing happened. When he noticed later that I understood how to turn corners and when to brake, he slowly gave up running next to me.”

Like Kalle Rovanperä, Tuukka Taponen has also sat behind the wheel of motorized racing games since he was a toddler. It’s no wonder that the parents started investing in the boy’s karting hobby, when he started at a much younger age to offer snow washes to his competitors in the 10-year-old series competitions.

It didn’t come cheap.

“In the early years, the budget was a few thousand euros, but pretty soon one season could cost 10,000–20,000 euros,” Satu’s mother says.

Team Taponen’s division of labor went something like this: Tuukka took care of driving, father kept the car in good condition, and mother was responsible for external fundraising. It wasn’t easy.

“At that time, my work required me to be on the road a lot. I did several different jobs, and on car trips I called companies all over Finland to see who could get a sponsor for Tuuka. The days were quite long,” continues the mother, who now focuses on real estate brokerage.

At the age of 12, Tuukka started contacting companies himself.

In 2016–17, it started to become even clearer that Tuukka was an exceptional talent. If you want to advance in your career, you should be able to compete in the world. That means top teams, top gear and lots of travel. It would be too much for a middle-income Finnish family.

“When Tuukka was little, we were always involved in the competitions. Nowadays I can focus more on being a mother. Jussi can be responsible for the career side,” says Satu Taponen.

Kohtala entered the picture around 2018. At that time, the season budget was already running into six-figure sums. The importance of sponsors grew, but nothing would have happened without the driver’s talent.

“When the starting points are like this, then we have to go ahead of the super talent. I said From Valtteri Bottas during his karting days that he would become an F1 driver. The same can be said about Tuuka. And the teams in the formula classes also see this,” Kohtala underlines.

Over the years, a top team has built up around Taponen. On the physics side you can find, for example Tommi Pärmäkoski and Jaakko Ojaniemiteaches the ins and outs of driving and tuning a formula car Ossi Oikarinen.

I kill heading to the observation finals of the Ferrari driver academy on Monday.

He was at the same event last year as well. This time, Taponen didn’t have to participate in the qualifying stage at all – he made such an impression on the Maranello team a year ago.

For the best, there is a place in the Ferrari driver academy.

Read more: Top prospect Tuukka Taponen, 15, received good news from Ferrari

“That would be a huge deal in terms of my career. In the early years, the Academy doesn’t quite cover the costs yet, but through the Academy you get support and coaching. It would be really wonderful to get to learn that.”

About Ferrari’s current drivers Charles Leclerc is a graduate of the Academy, as well as e.g. Driving a Haas Mick Schumacher mixed Kimi Räikkönen previously drove as a team mate Antonio Giovinazzi.

A place in the big stable Academy would open doors and opportunities. The higher levels Taponen drives well, the greater the support. Italy is the cradle of top European karting.

Ferrari apparently keeps the content of the test days a secret from outsiders, but so much information about it leaks out that during the four-day start, in addition to driving skills, mental qualities and other capabilities are tested.

Kohtala’s mentoring has also aimed at this. He calls Tuukka exceptionally mature. In recent years, the two have been on the road 200-270 days a year, and the parents have not been allowed to join the trip for a long time.

“I forbade them to come. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate at all,” Taponen laughs.

Read more: Many young men would exchange parts with Tuukka Taponen, 15, even if the money came back in droves – “Ferrari is watching me”

After all, Satu and Marko got to come to the Karting World Championship final. But in other respects, Kohtala also wanted to take into account that the boy needs to learn the rules of a racing car driver’s life.

“If mom is on the trip, then after every race the sandwich is ready, the food is ordered and the hotels and other things are taken care of. My way of doing things is that I show Tuuka the things once, and then he can learn to take care of them himself.”

In this respect as well, Taponen’s family background and life experiences differ from many competitors.

“Sometimes on the track you see those guys who have a team of five guys following them everywhere. One wears a helmet, the other wears a visor and so on”, tapons Taponen.

Money is the fastest way forward in the world of motorsport. Taponen has to manage with his skills and his background team. If you learn to take care of your affairs at a young age and to live more independently than a typical teenager, then the skills to adapt to changing situations along the career are clearly better, according to Kohtala.

“Before long in this world, you have to move away from home and go abroad. What do you think, will Tuukka do better than a guy who has everything taken care of and flown everywhere on a private plane,” Kohtala asks.

Read more: Tuukka Taponen, 15, made Finnish motorsport history and won karting World Cup gold with a superior performance

Next this season, Taponen drives in the formula 4 series. The goal is a place in either the Italian or Spanish F4 series, and before that possibly in the Asian F4 at the beginning of the year.

Taponen is followed by almost all the teams in the junior formula classes. There are several offers on the table. In the very near future, you should decide which path to take. The outcome of Ferrari’s camp and whether Tapose will be offered a place in the Italian giant’s Academy will also partly affect that – and what will be done with the offer.

“A big team like Prema or Van Amersfoort would be interested, as well as Hitech or Campos. They have teams from F4 to F2 class. You shouldn’t move too fast, but if the next season in F4 were to go well, then you could say yes the goal is to drive in F3 a year later,” says Taponen.

Depending on the team, a seat in F4 costs from 400,000 to a million euros. Kohtala’s responsibility is to collect a large part of the amount from sponsors.

“The stable place is not tied to money. Tuukka will definitely drive in F4 next season”, assures Kohtala.

To be clear it will be that the direction markers of the career are drawn precisely, one step at a time. The main goal is to be the next Finnish F1 world champion.

Taponen does not fly to be tested by Ferrari on a private plane from Helsinki-Vantaa. A multi-headed team of personal assistants is not waiting for him on site. He is there because he is most likely once again faster and more ready than the others who come there.