No Retirement Plans Yet for Hakkinen

McLaren's Mika Hakkinen admitted he has been thinking about retirement, but added that he is not ready to leave Formula One just yet.

The Finn, who met Mercedes workers at the car plant before travelling to Hockenheim, spoke about life after racing on Thursday while again making clear that he was not about to call time on his career.

"Every Grand Prix driver every year thinks about retirement," he said. "There is much more losing than winning in Formula One so there comes a point when you've had enough. It happens and it happens to me and a lot of other drivers.

"We're only human you know, its a normal thing. I'm sure in your job you sometimes say 'I've had enough of this travelling and writing these things.' But still you look to the future and continue."

The 32-year-old, who has now spent eleven years in Formula One, said he often thought about what he would do when he finally quit but had not resolved the problem.

"The day when I stop will come at some point so automatically I do think about it. To find something that can relate to your past work is very difficult. It's very difficult to find a job which is similar to Grand Prix racing."

Hakkinen said he was discussing a new contract with McLaren but no announcement was expected this weekend although everything was progressing positively. He said the fact that he was no longer a Championship contender meant he could approach races such as Sunday's differently now.

"Very often when I've been leading, I'm driving just as fast as I need to drive to finish the Grand Prix and bring the machine home in one piece because I've been fighting for the Championship," he said. "As soon as I see on the pit wall that the gap is big enough ahead of the next driver I say okay let's start short shifting, let's lift the throttle a little bit and brake a little bit early.

"At Silverstone it was a different case. I had no chance to win the Championship anymore ... the gap got bigger and bigger and I could have gone much quicker. I decided to go for it and of course it looks more impressive."