Hakkinen aiming to go out on a high

The Finn may be slowing down after the final round in Japan in just over a fortnight's time, when he begins his year-long sabbatical from Formula 1, but until then the two-time world champion says he will have his foot flat to the floor.

Hakkinen has won 19 F1 races and maintains he will do his best to make it 21 by the end of the season - starting in Sunday's US Grand Prix.

The McLaren star was sizing up to take the lead from Michael Schumacher at this race 12 months ago when his engine blew, dramatically leaving the Ferraris of Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello to race home for a one-two finish. Now Hakkinen says he is out for revenge and will not be slowing up simply because he is heading for a break.

"It would still be great to win some races," he said. "There are two to go, I still have commitment to the team to finish the season, so I am going to go for it in these last two races."

Hakkinen has been far from his best and his McLaren-Mercedes has plagued by mechanical problems. With just one win this year, he's experienced his worst season since 1997. But looking ahead to 2002, he says he has no specific plans for his year off, however he says he'll be back in F1 the following year.

"I will take it easy for one year, see what it feels like," he said. "All doors are open, so at the moment the plan is to take it easy and see what happens. I think after a few months, four or five months, I am going to start feeling I want to come back - we will see. There are certain plans, but it is early stages to talk about it.

"The main target is to relax, take it easy and see what comes," he added. "There are obviously plenty of different offers and I have to decide what I have to do - but definitely I will not be making any decisions for a couple of weeks."

Hakkinen said his rumoured role as an advisor to his McLaren replacement, fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen, has yet to be discussed.

"There are a lot of different things I could do for him," said Hakkinen. "We really haven't sat down and talked about it, but I have certainly plenty of experience with team and with F1 in general. So there could be a lot of help that I could give."