Karting

Vainio has enjoyed a successful karting career. He won the Finnish championship in 2007,^[1] and in 2008 he won the European KF3 Championship and the Junior Monaco Kart Cup.^[1] In 2009 he was runner-up in the CIK-FIA Karting World Championship and won the European KF1 Champion.

Formula Renault

In 2010 Vainio stepped up to single-seater racing, driving for Tech 1 Racing in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.^[2] He had been expected to be part of the SG Formula team, but the team shut down. His manager was Nicolas Todt,^[2] son of FIA president Jean Todt and manager of Formula One driver Felipe Massa who had set a goal to get Vainio to Formula One in 2014.^[3] Vainio was also a candidate for the Ferrari Young Driver Academy, but was unsuccessful.^[3]

GP3 Series

For the 2011 racing season, Vainio moved into the GP3 series with Tech 1 Racing.^[4] He achieved a podium finish in his third race but only scored points twice during the remainder of the season, ultimately finishing 15th in the standings.

He remained in GP3 for 2012, moving to the Lotus GP team,^[5] where he took his maiden series win in the first ever GP3 race in Monaco.^[6] He finished the season fourth in the standings, behind António Félix da Costa, teammate Daniel Abt and champion Mitch Evans.

Career summary

Complete GP3 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete ADAC GT Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)