Tuukka Taponen returned to the front of the grid at this weekend’s Formula 3 Hungarian GP. Other than a singular point scored in the Silverstone Feature Race, the Finnish driver has not scored since Monaco. This is a well welcomed return, although he now sits 74 points behind Championship leader Câmara, in P9.
After securing P3 in Friday’s Qualifying session, Tuukka Taponen will be looking for victory. He will start Saturday’s Sprint Race in P10, due to its reverse grid nature. With a P10 and P3 start ahead of him, he will be foot to the floor from lights out, in an attempt to somewhat revive his Championship hopes.
Speaking to media outlets, including Pit Debrief post-session, he spoke on his return to the top.
A return to the top, after a run of troubles
The last few rounds have been far less than ideal for Tuukka Taponen. The Feature Race in Silverstone saw his only point scored, since the Monaco GP. Acknowledging the misfortune, Taponen has found that the final set in Qualifying has been his downfall. Unfortunately for him, that is the set that truly counts.
“It has been a couple of weekends that have been very difficult for me. And it has been mainly the last set in qualifying. And this time I was able to make a good lap in that last set. That is all really what matters in the qualifying.”
This final set in Qualifying has been something that Taponen has been working on since the season’s commencement. He was off to a good start, until the last few rounds unraveled all that hard work. The Finn has lost large amounts of his confidence, unable to find it for that final set. Prior to the final set, his Qualifying sessions have usually looked fairly positive.
The further along the Qualifying session gets on, the times get quicker, and lap times become more crucial. The cars get lighter after using their fuel, and the track conditions continue to evolve. This makes conditions all the more competitive.
“Yes, I have been working at the beginning of the season. Everything was going well, and I was doing quite a good job as well as the team. But then a lot of things went wrong the last three weekends, as you said. I have not really been able to be with the full confidence for that last set. Even it has been looking good before that last set.
“When cars are getting lighter, track is getting better. The last set is super important. And this time I was able to make a good lap and put the car where it needs to be.”
Despite all this, his goal for Budapest, as well as Monza, remains to simply qualify well, and make races easier for himself. Qualifying out of the top 12 will make his job far harder, so positions inside the top 12 are the aim.
“Keep doing like I did today. Qualify well, so then the race will be also good. If we qualify outside that top 12, it will be a tough weekend.”
Long run preparation lacking – how will this effect racing?
The effect of long running on the new tyre allocations of medium and soft, has not had a lot of practice time. With the Practice sessions being rather short, and Qualifying being the key focus, these long run simulations have been neglected. Off track, teams will now need to put work into sorting out the smaller details, that will improve their long runs.
“Yes, as they said, it’s going to be a long race. They changed the compound from the last year, from hard to mediums. We have not been able to really do any long runs in the Practice because it’s so short. And we focused on the Qualifying first and we have been looking obviously also at the long runs.
“But we will put a bit more effort now tonight and even tomorrow morning still. And do those details that can help for the entire day.”
