David Coulthard on Mika Häkkinen: My Greatest Rival

McLaren team-mates for six seasons, yet they couldn’t travel on the same plane. David Coulthard recalls his frustration with the Flying Finn

David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen in McLaren race suits
Browse pages
Current page

1

Current page

2

Current page

3

Current page

4

Current page

5

Current page

6

Current page

7

Current page

8

Current page

9

Current page

10

Current page

11

Current page

12

Current page

13

Current page

14

Current page

15

Current page

16

Current page

17

Current page

18

Current page

19

Current page

20

Current page

21

Current page

22

Current page

23

Current page

24

Current page

25

Current page

26

Current page

27

Current page

28

Current page

29

Current page

30

Current page

31

Current page

32

Current page

33

Current page

34

Current page

35

Current page

36

Current page

37

Current page

38

Current page

39

Current page

40

Current page

41

Current page

42

Current page

43

Current page

44

Current page

45

Current page

46

Current page

47

Current page

48

Current page

49

Current page

50

Current page

51

Current page

52

Current page

53

Current page

54

Current page

55

Current page

56

Current page

57

Current page

58

Current page

59

Current page

60

Current page

61

Current page

62

Current page

63

Current page

64

Current page

65

Current page

66

Current page

67

Current page

68

Current page

69

Current page

70

Current page

71

Current page

72

Current page

73

Current page

74

Current page

75

Current page

76

Current page

77

Current page

78

Current page

79

Current page

80

Current page

81

Current page

82

Current page

83

Current page

84

Current page

85

Current page

86

Current page

87

Current page

88

Current page

89

Current page

90

Current page

91

Current page

92

Current page

93

Current page

94

Current page

95

Current page

96

Current page

97

Current page

98

Current page

99

Current page

100

Current page

101

Current page

102

Current page

103

Current page

104

Current page

105

Current page

106

Current page

107

Current page

108

Current page

109

Current page

110

Current page

111

Current page

112

Current page

113

Current page

114

Current page

115

Current page

116

Current page

117

Current page

118

Current page

119

Current page

120

Current page

121

Current page

122

Current page

123

Current page

124

Current page

125

Current page

126

Current page

127

Current page

128

Current page

129

Current page

130

Current page

131

Current page

132

Current page

133

Current page

134

Current page

135

Current page

136

Current page

137

Current page

138

Current page

139

Current page

140

Current page

141

Current page

142

Current page

143

Current page

144

Current page

145

Current page

146

Current page

147

Current page

148

Current page

149

Current page

150

Current page

151

Current page

152

Current page

153

Current page

154

Current page

155

Current page

156

Current page

157

Current page

158

Current page

159

Current page

160

Current page

161

Current page

162

Current page

163

Current page

164

It has to be Mika Häkkinen, an opponent for seven years, with good times and bad. Good times when developing the McLaren, bad times when we ran at the front. He was very quick. Like all Scandinavian drivers, he’d been left-foot braking since way back in his career, whereas I was a bit late perfecting that.

The rivalry came to a head at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1999 when we were battling for the championship. We had the front row, we touched at the first corner, and I went on to win the race. Mika wouldn’t speak to me on the podium and afterwards his engineer Mark Slade said to me and my engineer Paul Monaghan, ‘Well, if we lose the championship it’s your fault.’

There are teams within teams and drivers are selfish. That can be disruptive and it was up to Ron Dennis to manage it. He’d sit us down away from the track, make it clear we were part of a team, and he expected us to race in the best interests of the team. Hey, we were pussycats compared to people like Prost, Senna and Lauda.

It got to the point where Mika and I would go to Nice airport, get on two separate planes, arrive wherever and get into two separate cars to the track. It was complete madness. On the drivers’ parade before the race we’d stand on the truck and not speak a word to each other. So yeah, it got very intense.

Team orders became a problem at Jerez [European Grand Prix] in ’97 when Ron agreed, if necessary, to help Williams get the title for Villeneuve, although it was never admitted. But as we know, Jacques and Michael [Schumacher] collided, the Williams was damaged, and on the last lap Mika and I both passed him. I’d already been asked to let Mika pass, which was never discussed, so I declined that invitation for a few laps. They told me I was compromising my place in the team –I took that to mean I’d be fired – so I moved over. That gave Mika his first victory, and Jacques won the title in third behind us. I was not happy.

Then, in Australia in ’98, Mika and I had the front row but the car was still a bit fragile. Ron said not to push each other, whoever gets to the first corner first stays there, and that was Mika. We lapped everyone up to third but then Mika made a pitstop – he’d been told to cool the brakes but he misheard the call and thought they’d told him to pit. So I was leading by quite a distance when the team told me to slow down and let Mika pass. So that was two victories that slipped away, when team orders weren’t legal and the fans didn’t understand what was going on.

Mika was fair, not a dirty racer, and a pretty uncomplicated guy. I admired the way he went about his racing.”

McLarens of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen

David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen head-to-head

Figures taken as McLaren team-mates 1996-2001

Coulthard vs Häkkinen
5 Wins 20
3 Poles 26
3 Fastest laps 25
9 Podiums 42
70 Points 360