Hakkinen: McLaren can deliver for Kimi

Raikkonen, 26, has been linked to Ferrari as a possible successor to seven times champion Michael Schumacher after twice finishing overall runner-up with McLaren.

The speculation about his future increased after McLaren signed Spaniard Fernando Alonso, world champion with Renault last year, for 2007.

Stopping short of offering advice to his fellow Finn, Hakkinen said on Tuesday that his own career had taught him that patience pays off and that McLaren could deliver.

"When I was a test driver in 1993...(team boss) Ron (Dennis) said to me 'Mika, you are going to race this year'," Hakkinen, who drives for McLaren's partners Mercedes in the DTM touring car series, told reporters when asked at a test session about Raikkonen's situation.

"I said 'Yes, but I am a test driver.' He kept his promise and I said 'Hey, I can trust this man.'

"In 1994 we continued racing and Ron said 'We are going to do it together, we are going to win a world championship together. It will take time but we are going to do it.'

"And we did it. So I suppose that answers a bit the question. That was my decision and I did the right thing.

"In my career I had a lot of offers from loads of different teams, naturally, but what I did was the right thing," continued the Finn, who retired from Formula One in 2001.

"I was committed and confident that the McLaren team would do it. And we did it.

"What Kimi should do, that is for him to decide. I don't see why the team cannot do it again, it's just going to take some time.

"It's been close many times and I think if you look at the performance of these couple of races they have been okay."

Raikkonen was third in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, after starting last following a suspension failure in qualifying, but crashed out on the first lap in Malaysia.

Hakkinen endured years of frustration before his first win with McLaren at the end of 1997 and he sympathised with Honda's Briton Jenson Button, who has done 102 races without victory.

"It was really tough. I started my career in Formula One in 1991 and my first win was the end of 1997. Even if you believe you are a good racing driver, it's awful - really, really tough," said the Finn.

"I believe he (Button) is going to win before the last race this year. There is no question, it could take time but he's going to win."

Hakkinen confirmed also that he turned down a chance to be Mark Webber's teammate at Williams last year after that team approached him in 2004.

"There were definitely some discussions with Frank, and I have no reason to say it's not true. It was true, yes, we were looking at that option," he said.

"At that point it looked like the right thing to do but with a lot of thinking, we came to the conclusion that it was better to go to the DTM."