Mika unhappy at first chicane tactics
Mika Hakkinen criticised his rivals for ruthless racing as he was forced him off the track at the first chicane at the start of the Italian Grand Prix
The Finn, who announced on Saturday he is taking a sabbatical next year, made his comments after team mate David Coulthard had criticised Benetton's Jenson Button for being over-ambitious coming into Rettifilo.
The drivers had discussed racing under yellow flags for the dangerous first two chicanes, but that idea was vetoed by team bosses.
"The pile-up at the first chicane caused me to go straight on and cost me several places," said Hakkinen. "This was extremely disappointing as the drivers had discussed about being particularly careful at the start because that chicane is so tight.
"Then on lap 19 it got stuck in fifth gear - and after that I lost all the gears - end of my race."
Team boss Ron Dennis added: "Overall, not a good weekend for Formula 1 and certainly not for us.
"Just when we thought we had come to grips with our reliability, we suffered an engine failure (David Coulthard) and a drive-train problem. We are still trying to find out why."
Share Or Save This Story
What we learned from the 2026 F1 Dutch GP sprint race and qualifying
Verstappen suffering from "flu-like" illness as Zandvoort exposes Red Bull's fundamental problems
Why Verstappen's 2026 Mercedes contact was very different from last year's
F1 Dutch GP: Norris pips Russell to grab pole
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments