Taponen ‘excited’ for the pressure of Qualifying ahead of Monte Carlo debut

Tuukka Taponen is very excited to take to the streets of Monte Carlo for the first time in his racing career, as the ART Grand Prix driver detailed how he has been preparing for his debut in the Principality.

The 18-year-old has made a stellar start to the season, finishing on the podium once in the Sakhir Sprint, and he is also in the midst of a streak of four consecutive points finishes.

Taponen now comes to Monaco fourth in the Drivers' Standings on 36 points, trailing Championship leader Rafael Câmara by 37 points.

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Looking ahead to the weekend though, Taponen was full of excitement ahead of Thursday’s Practice action.

“I'm excited for sure,” said Taponen. “It's my first time here in Monaco, we just did a track walk, all around all the cars that are driving around, so it's a bit messy for a track walk.

“But we just need to work a lot before doing FP, to have all the references and everything should be a hundred percent clear when we go to the track, so we can fully focus on driving and nothing else.

“Feeling nice for the moment the weather looks good, so I am really happy to start driving tomorrow.”

Taponen had been hard at work in the simulator preparing for this event for a while, but he expects the real thing to be quite different from what he has experienced so far at the ART factory.

“We did sim a couple of weeks ago, and again on Monday just to get a feeling,” he said. “For sure in the sim, it doesn't feel too difficult, but for sure it's difficult.

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“In the sim you can take risks, you can hit the wall, that's not a problem. But when you come here you want to take a bit more margin, especially at the beginning of FP.

“The grip level is not that high, it's a street track, everything is a bit different, so you need to start a bit calmer and then go step by step into the weekend.”

One possible factor that could influence the four days of action is the mixed weather conditions, with the forecast showing the possibility of rain across the weekend.

Taponen though is not too worried, given that rain has affected Free Practice previously in Formula 3, and each team will have data to rely on.

The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member had also previously mentioned that he and ART had worked to analyse where they can improve going forward.

While the Finn says they have done so, the uniqueness of Monte Carlo means not a lot of their findings will be useful this weekend.

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Taponen says a lot of the work done post-Imola will be big in Barcelona for Round 5, but for now his focus is on being ready for Qualifying.

“For sure everybody will feel the most pressure in Qualifying,” said Taponen. “Everybody knows you need to make the lap in Qualifying, that's where you will make your weekend basically.

“I'm looking forward to it, I am quite good at that, driving under pressure. I feel like every time I am under pressure, or I feel a bit more excited, I am really comfortable. When I feel too relaxed, too calm, it's a bit difficult for me. So, I think this will be good for me.”