Road to Formula 1

He was born on 28 August 1989 in Nastola, in southern Finland. After karting, in 2008 he won the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and its Northern European Cup. In 2009 and 2010 he raced in the Formula 3 Euro Series and won the Masters of Formula 3 at Zandvoort both years — the first driver in the race’s history to win it twice.

From 2010 he was a Williams test driver. In 2011 he became GP3 champion with ART, winning four races. He spent 2012 as reserve driver at Williams, taking part in Friday practice at several Grands Prix, and earned a race seat alongside Pastor Maldonado for 2013.

Debut and Williams

He made his debut at the Australian Grand Prix on 17 March 2013 and finished 14th. He started third at the Canadian Grand Prix on 9 June 2013, and scored his first points at the United States Grand Prix on 17 November 2013 by finishing eighth.

His first podium was third place at the Austrian Grand Prix on 22 June 2014. Two weeks later, on 6 July, he climbed from 14th on the grid to second at the British Grand Prix, and on 20 July he was second again at the German Grand Prix. He finished fourth in the 2014 Drivers’ Championship.

He stayed at Williams in 2015 and 2016; his last podium for the team was third place at the Canadian Grand Prix on 12 June 2016. In all, he stood on the podium nine times in his four seasons with Williams.

Mercedes

On 16 January 2017 Mercedes announced him as Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate, replacing the retired champion Nico Rosberg; at Williams his place went to the returning Felipe Massa. In his very first race for the new team, the Australian Grand Prix on 26 March 2017, he finished third. He took his first pole at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 15 April 2017 and his first win at the Russian Grand Prix on 30 April 2017, having started third. That season he also won the Austrian Grand Prix on 9 July and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 26 November, both from pole, and finished the championship third.

The 2018 season brought no wins and fifth place in the Drivers’ Championship. In 2019 he won four races — the Australian Grand Prix on 17 March, Azerbaijan on 28 April, Japan on 13 October and the United States on 3 November — and finished runner-up to Hamilton. In 2020 he won the Austrian Grand Prix on 5 July and the Russian Grand Prix on 27 September and was again second in the championship.

His last win was the Turkish Grand Prix on 10 October 2021, from pole; he finished the 2021 championship third. In each of his five seasons with the team, from 2017 to 2021, Mercedes won the Constructors’ Championship. On 6 September 2021 Alfa Romeo announced that he would join them for 2022; his Mercedes seat went to George Russell.

Alfa Romeo and Sauber

From 2022 to 2024 he drove for the Hinwil team — as Alfa Romeo in 2022 and 2023 and as Sauber in 2024. He replaced the retiring Kimi Räikkönen, and his team-mate was the rookie Zhou Guanyu. In his first race for the team, the Bahrain Grand Prix on 20 March 2022, he finished sixth; his best result of this spell was fifth at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on 24 April 2022.

In 2023 he finished eighth twice — at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 5 March and the Qatar Grand Prix on 8 October. He ended the 2024 season without a point, 22nd in the Drivers’ Championship, and was left without a race seat for 2025.

A year out and Cadillac

On 19 December 2024 Mercedes named him as their third driver for the 2025 season: he worked with the team at every round but did not race.

On 26 August 2025 Cadillac announced him as a driver for the new team alongside Sergio Pérez. The team, backed by General Motors and TWG Motorsports, works out of three bases — Fishers in Indiana, Charlotte in North Carolina and Silverstone in the UK — and is led by Graeme Lowdon.

2026 season

In 2026 he races for Cadillac — the championship’s 11th team, in its first season — with the number 77. He did not finish the team’s first race, the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March 2026; a week later he finished 13th at the Chinese Grand Prix on 15 March. The same season brought in the new technical regulations, with active aerodynamics and power units that draw around half their output from the electrical side.