Kalle Rovanpera attempts unprecedented gear shift from rally champion to Formula One driver

Kalle Rovanpera has conquered dirt, gravel, asphalt and even snow-saturated roads with a map-wielding co-driver by his side, but the youngest ever world rally champion now wants to show he can also triumph on the track in a Formula One car.

In the midst of chasing his third world rally title in four seasons – he is third in the standings with two rounds left – the 25-year-old Finn announced in October that he will be switching to single-seater circuit racing in 2026.

The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver, who at 20 became the youngest World Rally Championship (WRC) race winner before moving up a gear to become its youngest world champion at 22, tested Red Bull’s 2012 F1 car at the end of 2024 and had a two-day test in an F2 car in October.

Rovanpera, who was just eight when a clip of him drifting a rally car through snow-covered forests went viral, said he will compete in the Japanese Super Formula single-seater series in 2026.

Super Formula has in the past been a stepping stone to both F2 and F1, with its machines generally faster than its F2 contemporaries. 

Following the WRC season finale in Saudi Arabia at the end of November, the Finn will test a Super Formula car in December before embarking on his first outing in the Formula Regional Oceania Trophy in January.

Rovanpera said in October: “Having already achieved so much in rallying at this age, I started to think about what other possibilities I might have... I know that it’s jumping straight into the deep end, coming from rallying, but I’m really looking forward to it and together with TGR (Toyota Gazoo Racing) we have a good plan to prepare in the best way possible... and make the most of it.”

Toyota’s backing could be key to the two-time world rally champion’s F1’s aspirations, after they returned to the sport in 2024 as technical partner to Haas.

Masaya Kaji, director of Toyota Gazoo Racing, told the Japan Times in April that the automaker’s return after a 15-year-absence was borne of Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda’s regret that its personnel no longer had a pathway to F1.

“(Leaving F1) closed the door for our people, drivers, mechanics, engineers, for them to challenge the top category, Formula One,” Kaji said.

On his plans, Rovanpera told the DirtFish Rally School website: “We will go Super Formula, and after this, we will work towards the next category step, which would be Formula Two, and we will see how everything goes.

“I cannot tell you now which will be my ultimate goal. I have told you it’s the highest level. Formula One is the highest level, but obviously there are so many cool series and events in circuit racing.”

Past gear-shifters

There have been F1 drivers who have made the switch to the WRC, including 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen and 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica, while current Williams driver Carlos Sainz, whose two-time world champion father is rallying royalty, has inevitably dabbled in the format, saying: “It makes you a better, more complete driver.”

But no driver has successfully transitioned from the WRC to F1.

Said Toyota rally team boss Jari-Matti Latvala, an accomplished WRC veteran who finished second in the championship standings three times: “We’ve seen racing drivers come and try rallying, but very rarely have we seen it the other way around – that a rally driver goes to circuit racing and tries to challenge the best, especially not in single-seater racing.

“I don’t think there are many manufacturers who could give a driver that kind of opportunity, which is a very exciting one for both sides.”

Former world rally champions have had mixed results testing F1 cars.

Colin McRae was quick in a Jordan around Silverstone in 1996, while Tommi Makinen crashed a Williams at the Circuit de Catalunya two years later.

Record nine-time former world rally champion Sebastien Loeb came closest to making the move to the track. Beyond just publicity run-outs in an F1 car, the then 34-year-old actually took part in official post-season testing with Red Bull in Barcelona in 2008, with the team saying he was fast enough for F1.

In 2009, he expressed interest in replacing underperforming Sebastien Bourdais at Red Bull’s junior team, then known as Toro Rosso, with Loeb telling DirtFish: “The motor sport boss from Red Bull that called me... asked me if I would be interested in finishing the Formula One season to replace Bourdais.”

In conjunction with rallying, he began to “train physically for” F1, but after losing the WRC championship lead after a difficult few races, Loeb shared that “Red Bull said that maybe it was not the right time, and that I should concentrate more on the rally and less on Formula One.”

He eventually recovered to win the WRC title and then the plan morphed to having him race in F1’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, which took place after the end of his rallying campaign.

But motor sport governing FIA refused to grant him a super licence, “so that was the end of the Formula One story”, he said.

It highlighted how unlikely a switch to F1 is for stars from other motor racing disciplines.

Multi-discipline champion

The only person to notch world titles on both two and four wheels is John Surtees, who won four championships in the premier 500cc class of motorcycle racing, before in 1964 triumphing in F1 with Ferrari.

For a time, it looked like MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi might have a stab at emulating him.

Strapped into a Ferrari in an F1 test in Valencia in 2006, he was quicker than grand prix winners Mark Webber, David Coulthard and Jarno Trulli, with seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher telling L’Equipe “he has enough talent” to make the move, adding if “you have this special feeling on two wheels, you can use it perfectly on four wheels”.

Surtees, meanwhile, told La Gazzetta dello Sport: “Valentino should move to Formula One and he should do it now”, but the then 26-year-old eventually declined Ferrari’s proposal, saying: “I had to drive a less fast car to prepare and I was supposed to be a test driver at first. That’s why I decided to decline the offer.”

Rossi and several fellow champions in other motor sport disciplines may not have fully committed to their F1 dream but Rovanpera clearly has, and done so at a relatively young age.

What drivers say

That has left some of his racing peers intrigued.

Red Bull’s four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen, whose father Jos also raced in F1 before trying his hand at rallying, albeit not at the highest level, told Reuters: “To go straight into a Super Formula car is a big jump. But again, if you are fully committed, you believe in yourself and you work hard for it, then who knows?

“I’m very interested to see how it’s going to turn out because it’s great, it’s not really been done before.”

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, a former F1 champion, has competed in the Dakar Rally and won 24 Hours of Le Mans. He said: “Definitely he will face some challenges. Rally was always playing with the two feet, brake and throttle for the whole time in a stage. And then the limits of the car and the limits of what you can do is shockingly different.”

The contrast might be stark, but WRC leader Elfyn Evans, who is 13 points ahead, summed up what could be on offer for his Toyota teammate Rovanpera.

He told Motorsport.com: “If he can be successful, it is going to shine a lot of light on himself as one of the best drivers ever.”