Finland may have just 5.6 million inhabitants – just 0.07% of the world’s population – yet it has immensely contributed to Formula 1’s history.
The Nordic country admittedly has never hosted grand prix racing, and neither has it had any teams in the world championship. Still, among its nine drivers competing in F1, there were seven podium finishers (including Mika Salo and Jyrki Jarvilehto, better known as JJ Lehto), five race winners (notably Heikki Kovalainen and Valtteri Bottas) as well as three champions: Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen. That’s not counting Nico Rosberg, who was crowned in 2016 but raced under a German licence from his sophomore F3 Euro Series campaign in 2004 until his shock retirement from F1.
