Iker Oikarinen has created a determined plan towards the Formula Ones. In the coming season, help will be provided by a meritorious last name.
- Iker Oikarinen, 19, moved to Spain with his family when he was young. Futis stayed when motorsport took the heart.
- Ferrari’s former F1 driver Luca Badoer plays a significant role in the story.
- Ossi Oikarinen works as a race engineer.
Let’s get the most obvious out of the way right at the beginning.
Iker Oikarinen, your family has strong ties to Spain. Does your first name come from a football player?
– That’s what it comes from, the 19-year-old formula promise laughs.
If things had gone differently, the football world might have had a legendary Iker Casillas to the grass fields of the namesake.
However, that did not happen. The credit goes to a well-known Ferrari driver.
Badoer was convinced
Iker Oikarinen is preparing for his first season in the Formula Regional series. Matti Matikainen
Young Oikarinen barely had time to enter the school world in Finland, when he and his family moved to Malaga, Spain. There, the years rolled by playing football and karting.
A former F3 driver who lived next door to the family drew his attention to the young Finn’s driving skills. He used his contacts to get Oikarinen the opportunity to test his speed in Italy. There, the neighbor’s old racing partner and friend followed the tests.
– Luca Badoer was so convinced of my driving that he came to me after the tests and praised my driving. He believed that I would still go far, Oikarinen fondly remembers the events of ten years ago.
Badoer drove 51 races in formula one in the 1990s. However, he is best remembered as a Ferrari test driver Michael Schumacher during the reign.
Badoer, who traveled thousands and thousands of test laps, played a significant role in Ferrari’s creation of the cars that brought championships to Schumacher.
Badoer was able to drive Kimi Räikkönen as a team mate at Ferrari in the 2009 season, when Felipe Massa was seriously injured. However, Badoer, who underperformed badly, was quickly moved aside from the race driver’s place.
Badoer’s words made the young Oikarinen make a decision. Futis could stay, motorsport would become his thing.
You’re right in the car
Ossi Oikarinen works as Iker Oikarinen’s race engineer. The last name is unclear, the two are not related to each other. Iker Oikarinen’s announcement
Last season, Oikarinen competed in the Formula 4 series in Finland. Now it’s time to take a leap forward, with the competition season ahead in the ranks of KIC Motorsport in the European Formula Regional series.
There are naturally many blue-and-white workers in the Finnish formula team. One of them is Ossi Oikarinen.
Ossi Oikarinen, who has had a long career in Formula 1, will work as Iker Oikarinen’s race engineer in the coming season.
You have to ask about the name again. Is this about kinship?
– No, but from an incredible coincidence. Father and Ossi settled this matter when we met for the first time, Iker Oikarinen says with a laugh.
The younger Oikarinen could hardly have had a better race engineer. Ossi once worked in a similar position in Toyota’s F1 team, so who knows what the job requires.
– Ossi is the best for that job in Finland. And even if the sample were to be expanded internationally, there are hardly many giants tougher than that. It’s great to be able to work with a professional, Oikarinen enthuses.
The cooperation has started well.
– Communication between us has worked since the first time. Ossi likes it when I react to his feedback right away, says Iker Oikarinen.
Step by step
Oikarinen has set himself a two-year goal. Dutch Photo Agency
The Regional series car is more challenging than the F4 car in terms of performance and features.
– Ossi has said that if you learn to control this car, F3 and F2 cars shouldn’t cause any kind of problem, says Oikarinen.
The following junior formula classes will nurture the dreams of a determined young Finn in the future. Now the focus is completely on the Regional season.
– A two-year project has been planned for this. This season, the goal is to gain experience and be the best rookie driver in the series. Next year, we will attack to fight for the top positions in the series, Oikarinen plans.
The plans are to progress step by step towards the Formula Ones. With good driving performances, the intention is to get F1 teams interested and attach Oikarinen to their junior program. That would make taking the next steps much easier.
In the upcoming season, Oikarinen will be able to closely watch the work of one of the F1 juniors. Team mate Maya Weug belongs to Ferrari’s young driver academy.
Oikarinen has one trump card in working with Weug.
– I speak Spanish fluently. My mother is half Spanish and I speak it with her every day, says Oikarinen.
The language of communication will still be English.
– So that everyone in the team understands what they are talking about, Oikarinen reflects.