As a Finnish racing driver and a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Tuukka Taponen’s 2025 season in F3 finished with him in ninth. These results in his maiden season showed his potential as a driver. And while most focus on his driving, a big part of his personality and heritage is reflected through his helmet.
The 18-year-old’s performance during the 2025 FIA F3 Championship earned him another year in the series. For his 2026 campaign, Taponen switched teams. Making a strategic decision, the Finnish driver exchanged his seat with ART Grand Prix for MP Motorsport.
Helmet design
Besides his results and racing, the Ferrari Academy driver puts a lot of thought into his helmet. During his 2025 F3 season, Tuukka Taponen represented his country on his helmet. Alongside the blue for Finland, the 18-year-old made sure to include red, highlighting his support from Ferrari.
“So on my helmet, I have a bit of blue here, just always representing Finland. The design has been made by Uffed Designs, who has painted the helmet, but there are no specific liveries on that.
“There is a bit of red for Ferrari and quite a lot of white. I like to have a lot of white to make it fresh.”
Furthermore, Taponen shared his thought process when designing his helmet. The Fin made sure to include a symbol from his home country as well:
“I don’t want to have too many colours because otherwise it looks a bit too dark. And then the Finnish Lion at the top of my helmet.”
Representing his team and upbringing
The work that goes into the perfect helmet varies from driver to driver. In Taponen’s case, he preferred his F3 2025 helmet on the simple side. Speaking on the creation of the design, the Finnish driver explained the trust that he has in his artist:
“It’s quite simple and I like it. To be honest, when we talk, I don’t really say what I want. I just tell him to design it himself. Because he paints the helmets, so he knows what’s best. I just tell him the colours I want and he does the rest.”
While the Ferrari Academy Driver admitted that he likes to have consistency with his helmet designs, Taponen spoke of the need to adapt them to his current team.
“This helmet is quite similar to last year’s helmet. I changed the colour a bit because last year there was pink because of the team I was with. Usually, I want to have a bit of colour from the team. But I always want to keep the white and blue because of the Finnish flag.
“Otherwise, it is very similar to design I had last year. It’s not similar to my first helmet, because that was fully white.”
Plans for next year’s design
Alongside the preparations that come with getting ready for a new season, the Finnish driver already has a vision for his future helmet. Taponen confessed to a certain desire for change, while also reflecting on the need to keep it similar enough to the F3 2025 one.
“I think for next year, I would like to change a few things. But not too much. I want to keep it very similar at the sides, but at the front it’s maybe a bit too dark.
“These things at the front can sometimes look a little silly, so I want to change them. Otherwise, I want to keep it the same.”
Nevertheless, the Ferrari Academy Driver expressed a wish that he hopes to be able to fulfil in the future. While changing a helmet design for one race seems simple enough, many drivers wait until later in their motorsport career:
“For sure, one day I would do a one-off design helmet. And it will be something that I would like to design.”
