What I never understood was why they never built a proper track in Finland for a F1 race there. They produced three world champions, and still have decent drivers appearing from there (you now remember Heikki Kovalainen) but never hosted a Grand Prix for some reason.
We did have Interseries back when Keimola was a relatively large attraction, Imatra attracts the motorcycle audience and Alastaro occasionally hosts an international event. However, these days the problem is Money, Money, and Money. Kymiring was at least built as a Grade 1 circuit but the project's constantly hemorrhaging money and they've missed their shot of hosting a MotoGP race 3 years in a row and the investors are getting impatient with their white elephant. Besides, we don't exactly have a crazy zillionaire who's willing to splurge on a project like this compared to our rowdy eastern neighbor or the sheiks selling oil down south.
I would also suppose that Finnland is just a tiny bit too cold for a propper F1 track... A shame, I'd love to see a cool racetrack in a colder climate. (Pun not intended)
The weather is not really the issue, but only because it causes cracks and potholes to show up as time passes so it would require frequent re-pavings. Though, it would at least give it an interestingly patchy character. However, Kymiring is also not close enough for a massive hospital with all the bells and whistles needed by FIA's medical team so that's also likely gonna be a big issue unless someone decides that "Yes, we'll build a big private hospital" in Lahti, a place most notable for being on drugs all the fucking time or Kouvola, which is a little slice of DDR eternally stuck to 198X.
The money in Finland is rallying, if you're going to invest in building a race venue then rally is the way you make the money. There aren't any big car manufacturers there to build a test circuit that might be brought up to standards. That plus sparse population and difficulty of logistics makes it not overly desirable for F1.
Rallying is very much it's own realm, separate from money going to track-side stuff. Organizing Rally Finland also is still way cheaper than organizing an F1 race. The big problem is more that there's not a lot of it in the first place which is why I have doubts that someone as talented as Tuukka Taponen might not make it to F3, purely because all they've got is their skills but they aren't from a country with big sponsor worth to it nor a said crazy zillionaire willing to fund someone's career out of their pocket. Car manufacturers do actively test their cars up in Lapland all the damn time because it's got plenty of long roads, bad conditions and a bunch of very flat lakes where you can check how a car handles on ice.
Other sports stealing money also is a thing because:
There's the Track and Field scene which used to be the number 1 but has since been relegated in favor of team sports. Most likely to bitch about how everything else is too commercialized and wondering if we'll ever get a second Paavo Nurmi at some point.
The Pesäpallo scene, if you like a sport nobody outside of tiny rural places cares about. Only go here if you want to watch baseball, but with rules written by someone who once drunkenly heard about it at some point.
E-Sports which does attract an audience but they still are only a thing you care about it if you only play DOTA/CS:GO and ONLY these two. Energy drink addiction is a must.
Skiing scene which is still angry it's not 1978 when they could get everything they want no questions asked. They still have nightmares about that bag that got left to a gas station.
The minor ball sports (gridiron/basket/hand/volley/floor/etc.) that try to remind they exist every once in a while but only have one to two towns that specializes in it. Occasionally, people watch it when they have nothing better to watch on TV.
The Football scene which is envious that they aren't the biggest sport by a huge margin like in all the other countries and are permanently, VICIOUSLY asshurt about it. Most likely to spout dumb cliches about how the world's a ball, "muh beautiful game", "muh biggest audience" and we must also spend 5 billion so we can maybe be the 17th strongest nation in UEFA.
The one scene that doesn't complain about a lack of money over here is Hockey because this shit is a religion here at this point. They happily enjoy the most lucrative opportunities and shit out world class talent like it's nothing.
