Timo Pakkinen

**Timo Pakkinen** (born 25th January 1970) is a Finnish racing driver.

## Early Life

Timo Pakkinen was born in Kauniainen to a midldle class family. His father, Hemminki Pakkinen, was a former motorbike rider during the late 60s and 70s. While not a world champion, Hemminki left his mark as one of the many riders to have raced in the dangerous period of motorbike racing, which included a win in the 250cc class in the Isle Of Man TT in 1972. His mother, Lena Stromme, was born in Norway and worked as a timekeeper at race events before meeting Hemminki in the 1960s.

## Racing Career

### Early Career

Timo started his racing career by racing karts at the age of eight. He won the Junior World Karting Championship in 1986 and began his junior career in the All-Japan Formula 3000 in 1987. A successful four year stint proceeded in which Pakkinen impressed with his consistency and improvement throughout the seasons. He was rewarded with a title in the 1989 season, despite scoring only a win throughout the year. A series of podiums led to him clinching the title with only a race to go.

Timo's peformances in Japan led to interest from Formula One teams. An offer from Ligier for 1990 was rejected as Pakkinen wanted to stay for one more year in Japan, developing his skills before going to F1. It was during the year when he signed a personal sponsorship deal with tobacco company brand Mild Seven. After the season's end it was announced that Pakkinen would race with Benetton for the 1991 season. The sponsor bought out his seat after former World Champion Skylar West had retired at the end of the season.

### 1991 - Debut in Formula One

Timo Pakkinen's first year in F1 was difficult. Despite a podium in his second race at Imola, his season was filled with car setups struggles and the overall peformance of the team declining. The team's season wasn't helped by when his teammate Stefan Wolff broke his legs for the fourth time and subsequently had to miss most of the season. In the end, Timo finished 9th in the championship, tied on points with Wolff.

The next two years of Pakkinen's career would be a similar story. It was at this point that Timo was known for his qualifying exploits in the Benetton, but he lacked the race trim compared to top drivers. Timo had finished both seasons in 9th place, each time with 43 points. The main highlights of those seasons were his two wins in Suzuka 1992 and Interlagos 1993. His first victory came in a wet race as Pakkinen out-duelled the 1992 champion Jack Wilson to secure the win, while his second win in Brazil came as a suprise. Pakkinen was set to take a top five finish but managed to take advantage of the retirements of the leading group, holding off a fast-charging Koren to win the race.

**1994**

After years of being in the lower end of the midfield, Timo Pakkinen had his breakthrough year in 1994 with a hugely impressive season. Despite a rocky start with an engine failure in Aida and a controversial Brazilian Grand Prix, in which he and Jack Wilson were involved in incidents throughout the race, Pakkinen managed to rebound with a string of multiple podiums in Imola, Road America and a dominating win at the British Grand Prix in Donington.

Timo's charge during the mid-season suprised many, but raised doubts in regards to the Benetton's rear-end stability which had dramatically improved from the previous season. Rumours towards the end of the year suggested that the car had maintained a developed traction control system (which the FIA had banned before the start of the season), a claim denied by the team. Further investigation by the FIA later revealed that the car did not had any electronic aids but had in fact used a well-designed rear diffuser.

Despite media and competitor scrutiny of the team's success, Pakkinen managed to get involved in the championship fight, and arguably might have sent the title fight into the last race but he would endure a rough end to the season. Pakkinen was dominating the Belgian Grand Prix and a win there would have sent him to the top of the championship, had it not been for a gearbox problem in the second half which dropped him to 10th, despite dominating the entire weekend. The Italian Grand Prix saw him finish 2nd in a narrow finish to his rival and his countryman Otto Makkinen, who managed to clutch the championship in the same race. Finally at the Japanese Grand Prix, two punctures from a 3rd place led to Timo finishing in a lowly 11th. That finish in Japan dropped him to 4th in the championship but despite the ending, Pakkinen was named the most improved driver of the season and was picked to be a serious contender in the following seasons.

### 1995

The media's prediction for further success for Timo came true the following year as he managed to storm into a dominating lead in the championship after a strong start to the season. Helped by the inconsistent peformances of Williams and McLaren it looked like Timo would be set for a championship in his 5th year. That however never came to be as Benetton suffered a mid-season slump which included a puncture in Hockenheim and a mechanical problem in Austria. With that, the Margheriti duo of Alexander Parker and Collin McDougall managed to catch Pakkinen by the end of the year. The title decider saw Pakkinen dominate the first half of the race until an engine failure in the closing laps ended his title hopes. This gave Parker his first title, and to add insult to injury, Timo slumped to 3rd in the standings after McDougall snatched second place with an 8th place finish.

### 1996

1996 would be a dissapointing year as Benetton declined from it's 1994-95 peformances. Despite the wins of Jimmy Russell in the sister car, Pakkinen never managed to get into rhythm throughout the year. Three podiums would be the highlight of the season. At the end of the year Pakkinen was rumoured to be leaving Benetton for the new Ford team, but the rumour was untrue as Pakkinen signed a new three year deal with the team, which was announced in Suzuka.

## Driving style and Personality

Timo Pakkinen is often regarded as one of the smoothest drivers of the 1990s. His driving style is noted as incredibly consistent and he was nicknamed the "Tire Whisperer" due to his reputation for getting his tyres to last longer than most of the grid, leading to riskier race strategies. Timo also became known as one of the fastest drivers in qualifying trim as his career progressed.

Timo has been criticised throughout his career for his seemingly weak defensive driving, as fellow drivers and experts have noted that Pakkinen's defensive moves were too lenient. In the 1997 Portugese Grand Prix Pakkinen was lambasted for letting Jack Wilson go on the front stretch with little resistance, allowing Wilson to cruise to an easy victory.

Pakkinen is known to be one of the kinder people on the paddock. Multiple mechanics and team personnel have praised Pakkinen's non-confrontational personality and being one of the least toxic people in the garage. Contrary to the claims however are ones that suggested that he was one of the few drivers to be vocal against Alexander Parker's aggressive driving style at the start of his career. This led to a small media feud between the pair. It is unknown if the two drivers are still at odds with each other over this.