| Sami Seliö | |
| Nationality: | Finnish |
| Birth Date: | 1975 5, mf=yes |
| Birth Place: | Lohja, Finland |
| Current Series: | F1 Powerboat World Championship |
| First Year: | 1998 |
| Current Team: | BaBa Racing |
| Former Teams: | Team Europe Velden Racing Team Seliö F1 Powerboat |
| Starts: | 138 |
| Wins: | 13 |
| Poles: | 25 |
| Fastest Laps: | 10 |
| Best Finish: | 1st |
| Year: | 2007, 2010 |
| Prev Series: | World Formula 4 Finnish SJ-15 |
| Prev Series Years: | 1996 1988-90 |
| Titles: | F1 Powerboat World Championship Finnish SJ-15 |
| Title Years: | 2007, 2010 1990 |
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.[1]
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 brought with it 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 wrecked his boat with ten laps to go, Seliö won the race to give him the championship by a margin of just four points.[2]
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.[3]
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 his right eye developed a hematoma.[4] 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[5] he started well down the field and a retirement in the race meant no points, and the chance at a third title was lost.[6]
| 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 | FRA Ret | FIN 6 | GRE 9 | ITA 5 | HUN 5 | RUS | ABU 4 | 9th | 30 | ||||||||
| 1999 | Team Europe | Velden | Mercury 2l | POR 9 | ITA DNS | RUS C | FRA Ret | HUN Ret | RUS | TUR 3 | AUT 6 | ABU Ret | 11th | 14 | ||||||||
| 2000 | Team Finland | Velden | Johnson 3l | POR DNS | BEL DNS | HUN DNS | LAT Ret | FRA DNS | ITA | POL | BUL | TUR | ITA 6 | AUT Ret | SHA Ret | ABU 5 | 15th | 12 | ||||
| 2001 | Team Finland | DAC | Johnson 3l | MAL 2 | POR Ret | HUN 5 | LAT 9 | ITA Ret | ITA 13 | GER Ret | IRE 6 | SHA 7 | ABU Ret | 9th | 33 | |||||||
| 2002 | Vivid Velden Racing Team | DAC | Johnson 3l | POR 2 | ITA Ret | FIN Ret | HUN 5 | ITA Ret | GER Ret | MAL Ret | IRE Ret | SHA Ret | ABU DNS | 11th | 22 | |||||||
| 2003 | Viemerö F1 | DAC | Mercury 2.5l | POR Ret | FIN Ret | ITA Ret | GER DNS | MAL Ret | SIN 7 | SHA 5 | ABU 5 | 10th | 18 | |||||||||
| 2004 | Seliö F1 Powerboat | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | IND 4 | KSA 3 | POR Ret | ITA 2 | ITA 9 | CHN 9 | SIN 3 | MAL Ret | KOR 4 | SHA 3 | 5th | 64 | |||||||
| 2005 | Seliö F1 Powerboat | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | POR 12 | ITA 2 | SIN 2 | QAT 3 | ABU Ret | SHA 2 | 2nd | 49.5 | |||||||||||
| 2006 | Red Devil Seliö F1 | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | QAT 6 | POR Ret | ITA Ret | CHN 10 | ABU 6 | SHA 4 | 10th | 20 | |||||||||||
| 2007 | F1 Team Energy | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | POR 4 | FRA 1 | CHN 3 | CHN 3 | QAT 5 | QAT 7 | ABU 1 | SHA 1 | 1st | 104 | |||||||||
| 2008 | Woodstock Red Devil Racing | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | QAT 4 | POR 8 | FIN Ret | RUS 2 | CHN Ret | CHN 1 | ABU 5 | SHA 2 | 2nd | 69 | |||||||||
| 2009 | Team Mad Croc | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | POR 1 Ret | POR 2 Ret | FIN 1 5 | FIN 2 3 | RUS 1 Ret | RUS 2 2 | CHN 1 1 | CHN 2 Ret | CHN 1 4 | CHN 2 1 | QAT 1 Ret | QAT 2 6 | ABU 1 3 | ABU 2 Ret | SHA 1 2 | SHA 2 1 | 3rd | 135 | |
| 2010 | Team Mad Croc | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | POR DSQ | RUS 1 | CHN 2 | CHN Ret | CHN 4 | QAT 2 | ABU 1 | SHA 2 | 1st | 94 | |||||||||
| 2011 | Mad Croc F1 Team | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | QAT 14 | POR 4 | TAR DNS | UKR 3 | CHN Ret | ABU | SHA | 7th | 21 | ||||||||||
| 2012 | Mad Croc F1 Team | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | QAT 3 | TAR 4 | UKR 1 | CHN Ret | ABU 3 | SHA 5 | 4th | 60 | |||||||||||
| 2013 | Mad Croc Baba Racing Team | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | BRA 1 | UKR 4 | CHN 2 | QAT Ret | ABU 1 | SHA Ret | 4th | 64 | |||||||||||
| 2014 | Mad Croc Baba Racing Team | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | QAT Ret | CHN 8 | MID 3 | ABU 4 | SHA 4 | 4th | 33 | ||||||||||||
| 2015 | Mad Croc Baba Racing Team | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | QAT Ret | FRA 5 | POR Ret | CHN 3 | ABU 4 | SHA 5 | 7th | 35 | |||||||||||
| 2016 | Mad Croc BaBa Racing | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | DUB DNS | FRA Ret | POR 2 | CHN 1 | CHN 3 | ABU 5 | SHA 3 | 3rd | 66 | ||||||||||
| 2017 | Mad Croc BaBa Racing | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | 6th | 30 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Mad Croc BaBa Racing | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | 8th | 28 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | F1 Sharjah Team | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l | 9th | 15 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2020* | F1 Sharjah Team | BaBa | Mercury 2.5l |