Mika May Quit but I'm Staying, Says Irvine

Mika Hakkinen may be contemplating quitting Formula One but Jaguar's Eddie Irvine, some three years older than the Finn, says retirement never crosses his mind. McLaren have yet to announce their confirmed line-up for next season and speculation has begun to grow that the 32-year-old Hakkinen, who partners Briton David Coulthard, might decide to quit at the end of the season.

"Mika's a very different person from me," the Northern Irishman told reporters after a news conference on Tuesday to announce the continuation of his team's sponsorship deal with HSBC bank. "I've known Mika since he was probably 17 or 18 and he's done what he thinks he probably can achieve.

"I don't know whether he's going to retire or not, I really don't know, but he's won two World Championships and is probably not going to win another one unless he wants to stick around for a long, long time. So maybe that's what he thinks and he's going to say right, enough's enough. I don't know. But I haven't achieved what I want to achieve.

"So that (retirement) is not something that even crosses my mind to be honest," added the 35-year-old whose next race is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Sunday. Hakkinen, World Champion with McLaren in 1998 and 1999, has scored just nine points in 10 races and has not won since the Belgian Grand Prix last August.

Germany's Auto Bild magazine reported on Sunday that Frenchman Olivier Panis would replace Hakkinen for 2002. However Norbert Haug, the Mercedes motorsport boss, dismissed the suggestion as pure speculation.

Easy Touch

Tuesday's Italian Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper reported that McLaren boss Ron Dennis had taken up his option on Hakkinen. But it said Hakkinen wanted a one-year deal while McLaren wanted two. Irvine said Michael Schumacher and Ferrari's domination of the season, with the triple champion winning six races out of 10 so far and being on pole seven times, had probably given Hakkinen plenty to think about.

"I think Mika probably realises Michael's got the car that isn't bad enough for anyone else to win the Championship. The only thing is if Michael has a problem so Mika probably realises that it's not going to happen.

"Mika's a very different character to me, I don't know what's going on in his head to be honest," added Schumacher's former teammate at Ferrari who has another year to run on his Jaguar contract. But Irvine added that he was delighted by the prospect of a media circus unsettling McLaren until an announcement was made to end all the speculation.