Niko Kari “We go from race to race”

Niko started karting at the age of ten. Five years later he entered Formula 4 where he dominated the Northern European Zone category and won the championship with 7 victories. Following a bit disappointing Formula 3 year he arrived to GP3 Series which he does not consider as a big jump. “Of course, it requires a bit different driving style but the main difference is the tyres” he started about the change “It took me a while to get used to the GP3 cars, but the different tests helped a lot. We always make improvements on the car and my driving as well, so I am improving all the time and I think it is going to the right direction.”

Niko scored his first podium in Silverstone with a P3 on the sprint race and currently stands on the 11th place with 26 points in the championship. “I am not satisfied yet, but I think if we keep up the good work, it will be better and better”, he said about his performance so far. “My goal is to be on the top, but we go race by race. We will see what happens in the end of the season.”

Following the mid season test this June at the Hungaroring, the Arden driver arrived to Budapest with good chances and hopes of getting nice results in front of plenty of Finnish fans. “The test made it a bit easier for the weekend as now we know the track well but it will be also more tense, as everybody has been driving here already” started Niko about the Hungaroring “Qualifying is very important here, because of the difficulty of overtaking during the race, so I have to make the best out of that.” Tyre management is always a key point in Hungary. We asked Niko about this as well. “This track works the tyres very hard here, so it will make tyre management more important and pretty difficult for us. We have to save them carefully. The set ups will be limited, because of the temperature here. Weather changes a lot usually, and it can be very hot. This weekend will be a bit different if we compare it to other tracks but also very interesting.” Niko finished the Hungarian weekend with an important sixth and ninth place.

The biggest innovation in GP3 Series this year is DRS, which drivers can use in limited times during the race. “I think it is really nice to have in the series. I like it because it makes overtaking much easier on the races. It is a big change but I think we should have like in F2 where they have it in unlimited times. Anyway, I think it is still nice.” said Niko about the new system.

The 17 years old driver has been part of the Red Bull Junior program since 2016. This program helps talented young drivers to get into Formula 1 and supports their career. “Of course, there is a big help from Red Bull’s side. I am not focusing on Formula 1 now, rather just on my own job. They will see how it goes, and then decide what we can do afterwards.”