New father Hakkinen hyped-up for 2001

The Mclaren-Mercedes driver, whose wife Erja gave birth to son Hugo just over a month ago, made a return to the cockpit during testing at Valencia on Monday - his first time in a car since the season-closing Malaysian Grand Prix last October.

"Since the birth of Hugo, I feel more confident and more complete as a person," said Hakkinen, "and it should make me go quicker. I'm always motivated and always have the will to win and I am even more motivated to win now that I know how much there is to do."

Hakkinen was comprehensively beaten to last year's world title by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, eventually losing out by 19 points after the Finn had dominated during the previous two seasons.

The 32-year-old also spoke out over the impending F1 tyre war, saying rubber will be key to the performance of this year's cars. French manufacturer Michelin returns to F1 this year to take on existing supplier Bridgestone, which big guns McLaren and Ferrari have both stuck with for 2001.

"The tyres are going to be very important," said Hakkinen. "We have to get the tyres right and then from that go on to improve the rest of the car. It's going to be very, very important."

Schumacher won the last four races of 2000, while in contrast, Hakkinen has not won a race since the Belgian Grand Prix in September. Neither of their teams has yet launched it's 2001 challenger, but both are expected before the end of the month.

A fired-up Hakkinen said: "At the moment I can't tell you what my expectations are for next year because I haven't driven the new car yet. But really, my expectations are to win."