Finland Case Essay

Finland, the country of ice has been a major force in Formula 1 for the last two decades. A country with a population of about 5.3 million (0.44% of India’s population) has produced 3 F1 champions (Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen) and another 4 made it to F1 whereas India has had just a single entry i.e. Narain Karthikayen in all these years. Seems like automobile racing in Finland is just like cricket in India. It just runs in the veins of the Finns. The 1st Finnish driver to enter the formula1 racing scene was Leo Kinnunen. Kinnunen had a short stint in F1 which included just 6 races (1 start and 5 DNQ’s) and had no success in those. He raced for the team AAW Racing Team and used the Surtees TS16 car with the Cosworth V8 engine in it. The main reasons due to which Kinnunn couldn’t succeed in F1 were that his car was underpowered than the other cars and also the team was not allowed to get the top quality tyres from the manufacturers. And at that point of time tyres played an immense role in the result of races in F1. During these 6 races the team faced technical difficulties in almost every race. And then due to lack of funding the team had to retire from F1 and thus also ending Leo Kinnunen’s carreer in F1. In all Kinnunen played a role of historic importance by being the last driver to wear the open-face helmets in F1. Next was Mikko Kozarowitzky in 1977. He had a â€Å"blink and you will miss† stint in F1 as he just raced a total of 2 races for RAM Racing Team with no successes. Unfortunately he broke his hand while trying to avoid an accident during practice session after which his racing team wanted him to try qualifying in the spare car with broken hand, which lead to spats between him and the team. Eventually he quit the team and retired from F1. Then came Keijo Erik Rosberg in 1978, popularly known as Keke Rosberg. He became the 1st Finnish driver to win the Formula 1 championship in 1982. Keke debuted in 1978 with the Theodore team and came in the limelight during his second race which he won under treacherous rainy conditions on the track. Rosberg was then signed by ATS in the same season but they car they provided was uncompetitive so he moved back to Theodore again. After that Keke had to move to Fittipiladi forcibly as his former team quit F1. 1981 was a lean period in which he did not score even a single point. Keke’s career got a lifeline in 1982 when he was signed by Williams. He went on to win his 1st race this season and also went on to win the championship with 44 points. This was a season when no driver had won more than 1 race and the time when Ferrari were facing problems with their car. Rosberg moved to Mclaren in the 1986 season but was given an underpowered car compared to his team mate Alain Prost. He retired soon after the season from F1 as the accident of one his friend(Elio Di Angelis) deeply affected him. Mika Hakkinen joined F1 in 1991. He joined the Lotus team and scored his 1st points in his third race for the team. He joined Mclaren as a test driver 1993 with the hopes that some day he would be promoted to be their race driver. He got his chance soon enough when one of the Mclaren’s racers left the team. He had a nice debut in which he almost beat Ayrton Senna, his team mate. But this dream start for Mclaren was not to be as he went into the pit wall while trying too hard. He came 2nd in his second race for Mclaren. When Senna left Mclaren in 1994, Mika became their main driver and went on to race for the team till his retirement in 2001. In all these years he won 2 championships for Mclaren during the year 1998 and 1999. He won a total of 20 races in his career. The most by any Finn till date and is the most successful Finnish driver till now in F1. He could have been more succesful has Mclaren got a better car in the year of 1995 and 1996.He is currently an ambassador for the Drink Responsibly campaign by Johnny Walker. Mika Salo was racing along side while Hakkinen was racing for Mclaren. He too started with Lotus in 1994 but raced only the last race that season. But when Lotus did not return for the next season, he moved on to Tyrell for the next 3 years where he scored points some times. He then joined Arrows in 1998 but he didn’t race for the team full time in 1999. Salo was selected as a subsitute driver for Schumacher in 1999 during the time when Schumi was injured. He then showed his potential in a better car. He almost won his 1st race while being at Ferrari but was asked to give way to team-mate Eddie Irvine by the Ferrari team as he had chance of winning the championship. Eddie in turn gifted the trophy to him for his gesture. Salo then raced for Sauber and Toyota and eventually quit F1 in 2002 after he was fired by toyota for not giving results. Kimi Raikkonen, popularly known as the Iceman is another great Finnish F1 driver. He started his career with Sauber in 2001. Being relatively inexperienced there were concerns whether he should be granted the super license. But Kimi won his 1st points in his very 1st race. He then moved on to Mclaren in 2002 to take the seat that was left vacant when his fellow countryman Mika retired. He went on to race for Mclaren till 2006 but he did not have much success as he faced a lot of technical failures with the team. But he did win his 1st race in 2003. And went on to be second in the drivers championships in the year 2003 and 2005. Kimi then shifted to Ferrari in 2007 to take the place of Micheal Schumacher and he also became the highest paid F1 driver in the process. He won his 1st Championship in 2007 with Ferrari and raced for them till 2009. After that his contract was not renewed by Ferrari and he has taken a break from F1 for the time being and will be racing in the World Rally championships for the Citroen team. The latest Finn in F1 is Heikki Kovalainen. He started his F1 career in the year 2004 and became the test driver for Renault. He did the testing duties till 2006 and was eventually promoted in the year 2007 to be the race driver for the team. He had a mixed start to his racing career and he finished the season at 7th place with 30 points that year with the record of finishing most number of consecutive races(16) from the start of his career. The next year as Mclaren had problems with Alonso they signed Heikki as their driver. This seemed to be a major boost to his career. In 2008 he set fire on the track as he set the fastest laps of the race at almost every track that year. But he could not convert these into victories but he had his 1st victory that year at Hungary. The year 2009 was a disappointment. The car faced a lot of problems in the starting. KERS was being deployed for the 1st time and overall he could not perform up to his potential. With Lotus F1 coming back to the F1 scene and confirming Heikki as their driver for next year a lot is expected from him. Lets see what this Finn does next year and can he become the fourth Finnish driver to win the F1 TITLE.