Mika Hakkinen: An F1 life in pictures

Mika’s first Formula 1 test – with Benetton

That was a super-interesting day. Winning a Formula 3 race in England gave me the opportunity to test the Benetton in 1990 on the Silverstone South Circuit. Inside my head I’m the best driver in the world, full of confidence. Everybody’s saying: “Be careful. It’s a Formula 1 car.” I’m thinking: ‘No way I’m careful!’

There’s a long straight with a super-fast right-hander at the end of it. Behind that corner is the paddock they use for the South Circuit. There’s just a barrier between you and the mechanics, who were watching. I did my installation lap and then I was coming down that straight, absolutely flat out; full power, because the car felt very good. I saw the mechanics starting to run away! They thought this crazy guy was going to crash into the paddock!

Lap after lap, my times were improving. I had one spin. This wasn’t my mistake. I came into the pits and said there’s something wrong in the car. And they said, “Yes, we know.” They were very pleased because I’d recognised something was wrong. It was just a beautiful day – and very important for me. Peter Collins was the team manager and, when he took over Lotus for 1991, that’s where I made my F1 debut.

Into Formula 1 with Lotus

Hakkinen made his F1 debut with the Lotus 102B in 1991 at Phoenix, retiring with engine problems after 59 laps

Photo by: Motorsport Images

My first grand prix [Phoenix, March 1991]. Halfway through the race, suddenly the steering wheel on my Lotus came off. Manual gearbox, of course, and quite a bumpy track, so I was sliding and hitting the barrier a little bit. I managed to get back to the pits for another wheel. The only spare steering wheel they had was for my team-mate, Julian Bailey, and his buttons were in a different place. I have big hands and, every time I went into left-handers, I was hitting the button for the drinks bottle: I was nearly drowning every lap!

PLUS: How F1’s other champion to emerge from 1991 thrived at Lotus

Because it was my first GP, it felt like it was never going to end. The Lotus was very heavy – about 40kgs over the limit – and it felt like this GP was taking forever. I was really knackered. I looked in the mirror and thought: ‘Because this race is so long, the sun’s going down already. Incredible.’ But the car was on fire! So, quite a dramatic first GP.

From McLaren test driver to racer

Hakkinen caused a stir when he made his McLaren debut in place of Andretti at Estoril in 1993, outqualifying Senna and squeezing Prost to the inside before slotting in behind Alesi at Turn 1

Photo by: Motorsport Images

I remember this very well [Portugal, September 1993]. This guy [pointing at Alain Prost’s Williams], wasn’t very happy! He was fighting for the championship and he was comfortably quicker. But I wasn’t going to let him just accelerate away and take the lead. So I gave him a really tough time at the start.

We had a discussion about it afterwards and everything was fine. But not so good with Ayrton [Senna]! This was my first race with McLaren [Hakkinen having replaced Michael Andretti] and I outqualified Ayrton! That was big news because Ayrton was just so quick, particularly in qualifying. It was all in one corner where I was maybe one tenth of second quicker – so hardly anything at all.

Afterwards, he asked me: “Mika, how did you do this?” I stood up and told him it’s because I had big balls. Ayrton got really upset. He didn’t talk to me for a couple of weeks! I understood that. Ayrton had the latest [Ford] engine with the pneumatic valves or something, so he was able to use much higher RPM and I couldn’t get near him in the race. But then his engine blew up. And I went off. But it was good fun.

First time on the podium

In just his second start with McLaren, Hakkinen finished an excellent third at Suzuka as Senna took victory over Prost

Photo by: Motorsport Images

This was Japan in 1993. I was really confident with the McLaren: we had power brakes, active suspension, power steering. Everything should have been perfect. And yet I wasn’t happy this weekend. I had a brake failure in free practice, so we couldn’t get the car to an optimal level. That’s why Ayrton kicked my arse in qualifying. There’s always something, an excuse – racing drivers are good at this!  

In the previous race I’d crashed. So it was very important for me to just do a good job and not do anything crazy. I was able to finish third and not only get on the podium for the first time, but also to be with two world champions [Senna and Prost]; that was a really big moment for me, a big confidence boost.

I felt there was a lot of respect. The three of us were very good together. Ayrton’s holding my hand up. Yeah, that was nice.

A life-threatening accident

Mark Blundell and the McLaren team show their support for Hakkinen after his heavy qualifying crash at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix

Photo by: Motorsport Images

[During qualifying for the 1995 Australian GP in Adelaide, Mika suffered a left-rear puncture as he approached a 110mph fourth-gear right-hander. The McLaren was launched by a kerb before slamming sideways into a one-layer tyre barrier in front of a concrete wall. Such was the force of the impact, the seat belts stretched, Hakkinen hit his head on the steering wheel and cracked his skull. Had it not been for an emergency tracheotomy performed on the spot, he wouldn’t have survived.]

It’s good you chose this picture rather than the accident. It’s important to me because the entire team really took great care of me. They came with everything I needed. Josef [Leberer, Mika’s trainer] was with me in hospital. My manager [Didier Coton] was also there. My girlfriend was flown in. I was in hospital for five weeks or something.

I was in such pain, it really wasn’t nice. Ron [Dennis] and Mansour [Ojjeh] organised the plane to fly me back to England. Nothing was too much trouble. It was a huge, huge accident, a shocking thing but it was nothing to do with the team. All these people – and some of them are very sadly no longer here – were just incredible. I’ll never forget what they did.

The long-awaited first F1 win

Hakkinen took advantage of Schumacher and Villeneuve's famous clash, and a team order imposed on Coulthard, to win the 1997 Jerez finale

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Ah, my first F1 victory [European GP, Jerez, 1997]. I’m on the phone – but who am I talking to? My parents were there. So, who was it? That’s a good question.

Anyway, I was very fortunate David [Coulthard] gave me a little bit of help. Something happened during the race; a tyre stop that didn’t go right for me [he was delayed at the first round of stops and Coulthard emerged ahead]. The team said: “David; you have to let Mika come past.” So, he did – and I won.

There was a lot of talk about this at the time. But I got a victory, which was an important thing for me. I didn’t really feel like I had won it straight, because we weren’t fastest and we were helped a bit. But I didn’t feel like: ‘Let’s not celebrate. We aren’t the winners.’ No, no, no! So, we did. The only thing that bothers me now is who am I speaking to on the phone?

Sealing that first title in Japan

Hakkinen overcame Michael Schumacher to clinch the 1998 world title at the Japanese Grand Prix

Photo by: Motorsport Images

You can see this is Suzuka 1998. My first championship. This is so cool. It was a beautiful, beautiful weekend even though the pressure was enormous and Michael [Schumacher, Hakkinen’s title rival] was on pole – which was really, really annoying. I needed to win this race and, again, the team were absolutely fantastic. They really gave me the space, with not too much marketing work and things like that.  Ron was excellent when it came to details like that.

And the guys on the team – my engineers and so on – told me that we had a new front wing that would get more downforce at low speed. I think they may have lied to me – they just wanted to give me the confidence that maybe we had a better car, which I’m sure was true anyway. But this was a sign of how incredible the team was with me psychologically, trying to build me up.

The feeling was: there’s no way Ferrari can beat us. Absolutely no way. We were so strong together. Nobody took any shit; we were fully focused. And then we did it. We did it!

Tears after spinning out at Monza

Hakkinen spun out of the lead at the 1999 Italian Grand Prix, handing victory to Heinz-Harald Frentzen and losing the chance to extend his points lead on Eddie Irvine

Photo by: Motorsport Images

OK, I thought I might see this one! Leading the [1999] Italian GP and spinning off – that was mega annoying. There were a couple of issues: I was on antibiotics before that weekend, I was quite sick, so my performance wasn’t the ultimate. Nevertheless, you’re professional and you do your job.

Fighting with Ferrari for the championship again, we decided on a different tactic. I had the opportunity to be super-fast every lap because I needed to pull away a certain amount so I could make a pitstop and still come out in front. I was pushing every lap like an animal. Everything was going to plan.

During qualifying, we’d used first gear in the [first] chicane. For the race, we used second because we needed first gear for the start. So, flat out on the straight, going down the gears for the chicane and – oh, shit! – I went to first gear. It locked the rear wheels and she went off, into the gravel.

I was really upset because I wasn’t 100% and I’d made a mistake. There was a third thing. We had a little issue with the automatic blip on the throttle when you go down a gear. The blip wasn’t high enough, which made it worse when I went to first gear.

We didn’t talk about this after race. If I’d said to everybody: “Oh, we made a mistake with the throttle settings,” it wasn’t going to change anything. I’d put it in the gravel, we lost the race. Move on. But so annoying.

The hard-fought second title

Hakkinen beat Irvine to a second title in 1999 - and gets ready to do a lot of promotional work to make the most of the publicity

Photo by: Drew Gibson

So, this is Suzuka in 1999, when I won the race and the championship for a second time – which is good, of course. But my first thought when I see this picture is that it reminds me of one thing: winning the championship means unbelievable work for the [team’s] marketing. In ’98 we did a massive tour working with McLaren’s different partners, event after event. It was three or four weeks non-stop. It was crazy. So exhausting.

And the same thing is about to happen again in ’99. It’s like when you’re in a sauna. You sit there and, when this thing is hot, you put on water and then it makes the steam. So, when you win the championship, you’re hot! You have to add the water and that means doing all the marketing work to make the most of it. If you lose, there’s no point. Who cares? Ron Dennis was very hard on this. I knew plenty of work was coming my way when this photo was taken!

Laying down the law with Michael Schumacher

Hakkinen took a famous victory at the 2000 Belgian GP after passing Schumacher and Zonta's lapped BAR - but it came after what he felt was a dangerous chop one lap prior

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

In 1990, I had an accident in Formula 3 with Michael Schumacher in the Macau GP. I was following him on the straight and about to overtake at 230-240km/h. I could see his eyes in the mirror – and he just turned like this [indicating right] and I crashed into him. What can I do? Nothing. He won the race. This is racing. But I was thinking: ‘This is not really very nice.’

Retrospective: When Schumacher and Hakkinen battled in Macau

So, this is Spa 2000 – and Michael did the same again. I was catching him and going so much quicker. And he just went left – and then right. Come on, man! The discussion here is me saying: “Michael, you simply cannot do this. We are going 320-330km/h. We could get – I could get – killed. If I touch you, I’m gonna fly.”

Michael just looked at me and said: “Mika, this is racing.” This was a long time ago and I don’t look at this in a bad way. It was Michael’s character, his way of going motor racing. We’re all different. That’s what makes it exciting.

Jo Ramirez: a pivotal figure

Hakkinen celebrates victory in the 2001 US Grand Prix with long-time McLaren man Ramirez at his last race with the team

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Ah, this is really nice. It was my last win and I’m with Jo Ramirez, a super-important guy in my career. When I joined McLaren in 1993, I was lost. I was in a huge team and my English wasn’t good enough to communicate properly. I was very shy and Jo [McLaren team co-ordinator] was really taking care of me. He was going to dinner with me and introducing me to people and he didn’t have to do that.

Having him here in this picture is very important to me. But I also have to say this race [the 2001 US GP at Indianapolis] was emotional for another reason because this was just [two weeks] after 9/11. F1 had been thinking about ‘are we going there or not?’ It was a very good decision to go. The people there really appreciated it.

The ‘sabbatical’ that became retirement

Hakkinen bowed out of F1 at the end of the 2001 season, but later returned to racing in the DTM

Photo by: Motorsport Images

This was my last GP [Japan 2001]. You want to know what I’m thinking when I look at this? I’m thinking the English sense of humour is really weird! Giving me a beach ball in an F1 paddock? Weird! When you retire from F1, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to sit on the beach and drink beer from morning to evening. 

F1 was one part of my career. But after F1, there’s also life, business and different experiences. We did talk about me maybe coming back in a year or something – and I had a huge appreciation that the team was prepared to give me that opportunity. But then, after four months, I thought: ‘No way!’

The level of work you need to do in F1 is just… well, I’d been through it and knew exactly what was involved. It had been a fantastic part of my life. And that bit was over.

Hakkinen gets animated discussion his career in pictures with Maurice Hamilton

Photo by: Drew Gibson