Tuukka Taponen pleased to join ‘big team’ ART for the 2025 Formula 3 season

2 December 2024

Tuukka Taponen is delighted to be a joining ART Grand Prix for the 2025 Formula 3 season but is already aware of the challenges the step up in category will bring for him and his fellow rookies.

The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member steps up after a strong 2024 in which he won the Formula Regional Middle East Championship before placing third in the European edition of the competition.

He also drove for ART at Round 9 of the 2024 campaign in Spa-Francorchamps and at the post-season tests in Jerez and Barcelona, and everything he has seen so far has given Taponen plenty to be excited about for 2025.

“It’s great,” said Taponen on joining ART. “There were a few options for next year, but we found that for us, ART sounded the best and obviously we want to be in a team that has a great history behind them.

“They have been in the front for many years in F2, F3 also in FRECA, so it's a big team, one of the best in the paddock and it is great to be with them.”

When asked whether his substitute appearance at Spa played a part in his decision, Taponen revealed that he got a good “picture” of how the team worked to know that he was in the right place.

Taponen was pleased to have had the opportunity to race with ART at Spa last season

“It was a great opportunity,” said Taponen on racing at Spa. “It doesn't happen every day to get these kinds of opportunities to replace someone, especially in F3.

“I learned quite well how the team worked on a race weekend, how everybody was inside the team, I knew more about the engineers, mechanics, even though the weekend is not so long.

“We only had Free Practice, Qualifying and the races but I already got quite a good feeling and picture from ART, and it felt like a good place for me.”

This means that Taponen will go into the 2025 season having gained an understanding of an F3 race weekend, something most of the rookies will not be able to say.

His Spa experience alongside the four days of post-season testing has given the 18-year-old a fair understanding of the differences in the Championship and where he will have to adapt.

“We did more quali runs on the first day of testing and then the second day we focused more on the race runs,” he explained. “We also did some preparation for next year, doing some small tests, but honestly, I think it's always good to get some laps.

Taponen explained the differences between Formula 3 and his previous single seater experiences

“The car will be quite a lot different next year, the tyres will change, the cars will change, so the feeling when you drive will be quite a lot different. But it will still be a Formula 3 car, it won’t be F1 or Formula 4 car, so it's good to get some laps.

“The differences though it's just more specific stuff in F3. You go to every single detail, small things on the car, from the driving, from everything. You look at the warmup it's super important because you have just one lap in Qualifying.

“In Formula 4 you have more laps, you can get used to the car, you get used to everything, so I think also in F3 you need to be well prepared going to the race weekend.

“You don't have a lot of time because you don't drive, you need to know everything straight away that you want to do. You know how things will go, and you take the knowledge from the paddock to the track and make the best out of it.”

What he expects to help is having a more experienced teammate in Laurens van Hoepen, who he says will be important in setting a benchmark for him and fellow rookie teammate James Wharton, as well as in the development of the new Formula 3 car.

“I know James quite well, Laurens not that much,” said Taponen on his 2025 teammates. “But I think it's good to have one experienced driver in the team, to help develop the car as quickly as possible.

Taponen is planning of improving physically and mentally before the season starts

“We only have three days of testing before Australia so that’s a good point to have. Also, James is a fast driver, we will be pushing each other to beat Laurens let’s say.

“But we will also try to do the best as a team of course to make the car as good as possible but the drivers will make the difference still, and I feel quite good with those teammates. I think it's a strong lineup.”

However, before he gets to that point, there are still a couple of months left in the offseason to contend with, and Taponen’s plan for the coming weeks is to prepare both mentally and physically for the year ahead.

“It's just physical preparation, mental preparation, to be as ready as possible,” he said. “Next year you need to focus only on the driving, build it from a physical side first.

“Obviously it's not going to start immediately in January and February, but in March we have the first race weekend and, in the summer, it will be quite busy.”