Sami Seliö (born 5 May 1975 in Lohja, Finland) is a Finnish powerboat racer and two-time Formula 1 Powerboat World Champion. Seliö races for the Mad Croc BaBa Racing team and has competed in the series since 1998.
Racing career Seliö began his career in Finland in the national SJ-15 class in 1988, a category which he won 1990. By the mid-1990s he had progressed up the classes and in 1996 finished third overall in the Formula 4 World Championship. In 1998, he made his debut in Formula 1 and a string of points finishes earned him the Rookie of the Year award for 1998. Over the following years Seliö gained experience and in 2005 enjoyed his best season to date as he finished second in the championship. Two years later in 2007, Seliö won the first of his World Championships. He was 16 points behind Italian Guido Cappellini entering the last race of the season in Sharjah, but as Cappellini crashed his boat with ten laps to go, Seliö won the race to give him the championship by a margin of just four points.
The 2007 season began a sequence of four consecutive years where Seliö never ended lower than third in the championship. In his title defence year of 2008, he finished runner-up and he slipped one place to third at the end of 2009. The 2010 season would see Seliö clinch his second world title, again coming from behind in the points, this time to beat Jay Price, at the final race of the year.
In October 2011 in Liuzhou, China, Seliö lost control of his boat at 200 km/h and was concussed, broke his ribs and coccyx, and he developed a periorbital hematoma around his right eye. He missed the final two races of the season, but was able to return in time for 2012, where he eventually finished fourth overall. In 2013 Seliö would also finish fourth at the end of the season but entered the final race leading the championship. Having crashed out of qualifying he started well down the field and a retirement in the race meant no points, and the chance at a third title was lost.
Racing record
Complete Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship results Year Entrant Hull Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points 1998 Team Europe Velden Mercury 2l ITA RUS FRARet FIN6 GRE9 ITA5 HUN5 RUS ABU4 9th 30 1999 Team Europe Velden Mercury 2l POR9 ITADNS RUSC FRARet HUNRet RUS TUR3 AUT6 ABURet 11th 14 2000 Team Finland Velden Johnson 3l PORDNS BELDNS HUNDNS LATRet FRADNS ITA POL BUL TUR ITA6 AUTRet SHARet ABU5 15th 12 2001 Team Finland DAC Johnson 3l MAL2 PORRet HUN5 LAT9 ITARet ITA13 GERRet IRE6 SHA7 ABURet 9th 33 2002 Vivid Velden Racing Team DAC Johnson 3l POR2 ITARet FINRet HUN5 ITARet GERRet MALRet IRERet SHARet ABUDNS 11th 22 2003 Viemerö F1 DAC Mercury 2.5l PORRet FINRet ITARet GERDNS MALRet SIN7 SHA5 ABU5 10th 18 2004 Seliö F1 Powerboat BaBa Mercury 2.5l IND4 KSA3 PORRet ITA2 ITA9 CHN9 SIN3 MALRet KOR4 SHA3 5th 64 2005 Seliö F1 Powerboat BaBa Mercury 2.5l POR12 ITA2 SIN2 QAT3 ABURet SHA2 2nd 49.5 2006 Red Devil Seliö F1 BaBa Mercury 2.5l QAT6 PORRet ITARet CHN10 ABU6 SHA4 10th 20 2007 F1 Team Energy BaBa Mercury 2.5l POR4 FRA1 CHN3 CHN3 QAT5 QAT7 ABU1 SHA1 1st 104 2008 Woodstock Red Devil Racing BaBa Mercury 2.5l QAT4 POR8 FINRet RUS2 CHNRet CHN1 ABU5 SHA2 2nd 69 2009 Team Mad Croc BaBa Mercury 2.5l POR1Ret POR2Ret FIN15 FIN23 RUS1Ret RUS22 CHN11 CHN2Ret CHN14 CHN21 QAT1Ret QAT26 ABU13 ABU2Ret SHA12 SHA21 3rd 135 2010 Team Mad Croc BaBa Mercury 2.5l PORDSQ RUS1 CHN2 CHNRet CHN4 QAT2 ABU1 SHA2 1st 94 2011 Mad Croc F1 Team BaBa Mercury 2.5l QAT14 POR4 TARDNS UKR3 CHNRet ABU SHA 7th 21 2012 Mad Croc F1 Team BaBa Mercury 2.5l QAT3 TAR4 UKR1 CHNRet ABU3 SHA5 4th 60 2013 Mad Croc Baba Racing Team BaBa Mercury 2.5l BRA1 UKR4 CHN2 QATRet ABU1 SHARet 4th 64 2014 Mad Croc Baba Racing Team BaBa Mercury 2.5l QATRet CHN8 MID3 ABU4 SHA4 4th 33 2015 Mad Croc Baba Racing Team BaBa Mercury 2.5l QATRet FRA5 PORRet CHN3 ABU4 SHA5 7th 35 2016 Mad Croc BaBa Racing BaBa Mercury 2.5l DUBDNS FRARet POR2 CHN1 CHN3 ABU5 SHA3 3rd 662017Mad Croc BaBa RacingBaBaMercury 2.5l 6th 302018Mad Croc BaBa RacingBaBaMercury 2.5l 8th 282019F1 Sharjah TeamBaBaMercury 2.5l 9th 152020*F1 Sharjah TeamBaBaMercury 2.5l * Season still in progress.
The 1999 Grand Prix of Russia was halted after 12 laps with results annulled and no points awarded. The starting grid for the 1999 Grand Prix of Turkey was formed on the basis of current championship standings following the İzmit earthquake, with the race held as planned on Sunday 22 August. The 1999 Grand Prix of Austria was stopped after seven laps, with the results taken from the completion of the seventh lap, and no points awarded. The 2004 Grand Prix of Korea was run under the 'match race' format, and the event thus did not count towards the final championship standings and no points were awarded. The 2005 Grand Prix of Singapore was halted after 18 laps, with half points awarded.
References