Todt says Hakkinen is leaving on a high

Hakkinen, currently fifth in the championship standings, has had a lacklustre season this year by his standards and the Finn has decided to take a year out in 2002, but has firmly denied that he is retiring from the sport for good.

A dominant performance in last Sunday's US GP went some way to proving that Hakkinen still has the ability and motivation to run comfortably at the front and Todt has praised the McLaren ace by saying that F1 young gun Kimi Raikkonen will have a hard time filling Hakkinen's shoes next year. However despite the 33-year-old's insistence that his 2002 break is only a sabbatical, Todt referred to it as retirement.

"When a good champion retires, it is a very important moment for him," said Todt. "Drivers normally have great passion for the sport, but he's showing that he's retiring in great shape and at a high level. I think that the person who replaces him will take some time to reach the same level as Mika."

Meanwhile, Hakkinen's team mate David Coulthard is fighting to hold on to second place in the drivers' standings behind world champion Michael Schumacher.

The German's team mate Rubens Barrichello is seven points behind the Scot and after Schumacher moved over for the Brazilian at Indianapolis, engine failure robbed him of a potential win.

According to Todt, Barrichello has it all to do: "Early in the race, Michael let Rubens pass, which he probably wouldn't have done under normal circumstances, but we were all here to help Rubens this weekend. This is what we wanted to do and that included giving him the T-car for the weekend. He will probably have the T-car in Suzuka as well. If he's going to finish second in the championship - and that's what we're all aiming for - he really needs to win in Suzuka."

With Ferrari having dominated both the drivers' and the constructors' standings this year, Todt is already looking to 2002 and how the Maranello team can maintain its position at the top. But after scoring almost double the total of its nearest rival in both championships, it does not look immediately under threat.

"I can't see what more we can do because we did our best this year," said Todt. "I hope that we will have a great package; we have some developments in the pipeline."