{"id":1317529,"date":"2023-01-27T15:53:01","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T15:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?post_type=issue_content&p=1317529"},"modified":"2023-04-25T15:19:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T14:19:40","slug":"mika-hakkinen-the-motor-sport-interview","status":"publish","type":"issue_content","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/archive\/article\/march-2023\/39\/mika-hakkinen-the-motor-sport-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Mika H\u00e4kkinen: The Motor Sport Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mika Pauli H\u00e4kkinen<\/a> came to Britain from Finland in 1988, where he\u2019d won everything there was to win in karting and the lower formulae, and within two years was British Formula 3 champion. His prodigious natural talent, coupled with hard work and determination, was the constant bedrock of his success.<\/p>\n

He made his Formula 1<\/a> debut with Lotus in 1991, moving to McLaren<\/a> as test driver in 1993. An accident in Adelaide<\/a> in 1995 nearly ended his career but his courage and commitment saw him bounce back to win two world championships with McLaren for whom he raced for nine consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n

Not the most talkative man in his early years, Mika is now open, honest and insightful. Here he looks back over his racing career with Motor Sport<\/em> from his home in Monaco.<\/p>\n

Motor Sport: When you first came to Britain to race for the Dragon team you still had a lot to learn despite all your success in karting and Formula Ford. How important were those early years in building your confidence and character?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cVery important. When you are a young racing driver everything is about learning, and this process is about yourself, as well as working with a team. In \u201988 in the GM-Lotus Euroseries, Dragon was financed by Marlboro. It was a good, dynamic team, with good people \u2013 very experienced. Everything looked good for me and Allan McNish<\/a>. We won races. I won the European championship, Allan won the British series. That was fantastic but it was time to move on to Formula 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was looking around but I liked the Dragon people. They were ready to move up and I decided: why not stay where I am? It all looked good but the problem was I didn\u2019t know how technical, how complicated, the F3 cars were. I had so little experience, and Allan had decided to go to West Surrey which was a very good move. That\u2019s when reality came into my life. I thought it was enough to be fast and talented. I\u2019d won championships on the way up, but it wasn\u2019t enough. I was very young, only 20. I needed an experienced F3 team able to perform at different tracks with different set-ups. This was a set back, and it was my decision to stay at Dragon, not down to anyone else. I was now in a bad place and I was learning the hard way. You cannot compete with a team like West Surrey, who\u2019d had Ayrton Senna drive for them, with a team new to F3 especially when the Reynard was not the best chassis and there was a new engine from Toyota. Yes, we had some good results, but I wasn\u2019t there to win a race \u2013 I was there to win the championship. All of this was a big learning curve for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mika H\u00e4kkinen in 1990 on his learning curve while racing in Formula 3<\/p>\n

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Thanks to Marlboro support you then joined West Surrey in 1990 and won the British F3 title. How vital to your career was that commitment from such an influential sponsor?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cIt was massive. I would not be a world champion today without their backing. It wasn\u2019t just the money, it was the people, like James Hunt<\/a>, Mike Earle, Graham Bogle, Hugues de Chaunac. Even Ron Dennis was involved; they supported me. My English was still so bad. I could hardly say \u2018good morning\u2019… It was catastrophic, really bad, but I was aware of that. So my performance in the car was important and the Marlboro test day went very well.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnny Herbert saw that I was a shy guy. He helped me\u201c<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt was a proper, genuine young-driver programme. They knew they would need good Formula 1<\/a> drivers when people like Senna<\/a> and Prost<\/a> retired. The programme was about education, about communicating with the media, health and fitness and managing your life. They put us in a driving school, in a health programme, even told us how to use a Filofax, can you believe? It was a brilliant effort, showing us that to be a proper, professional racing driver was not only about turning the wheel left and right. It was a long-term plan to prepare us for representing sponsors and companies, facing the world\u2019s media, being a professional deserving of the millions of dollars that Formula 1 drivers would earn. You see this happening today. The big teams are following young drivers, preparing them for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Mika with manager Keke Rosberg, Spanish GP, \u201991<\/p>\n

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From left, H\u00e4kkinen, Peter Collins and David Brabham.<\/p>\n

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H\u00e4kkinen\u2019s first F1 appearance \u2013 US GP, 1991.<\/p>\n

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In those very early days you didn\u2019t seem to enjoy talking to the media and you still like to keep a low profile. Why was that?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cHa! Well, it was the weakness of my English, that was the big issue for me. I wanted to tell my story but the language was a challenge, a barrier. Also, when you\u2019re young you don\u2019t appreciate that you should only read the educated stuff, the accurate reporting, and not all the bullshit, so I had to learn who to respect, who I should trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, it\u2019s part of the learning process. You need to understand where are the good editors, the good journalists, who will be correct with what they say or write.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Finn is flying at the 1990 Macau Grand Prix. His F3 Ralt is leading Michael Schumacher in the pale-blue Kawai Reynard. This race began a fierce rivalry between the two drivers that would last until H\u00e4kkinen\u2019s retirement in 2001<\/p>\n

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You won the F3 championship with West Surrey and got your opportunity in Formula 1 with Lotus in \u201991. This, I assume, was your dream come true.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cAbsolutely, no question, my dream come true, and Peter Collins<\/a> was super kind to me. He took care of me. He was a great personality. Keke Rosberg<\/a> was my manager. He had such a good network. It was Keke who was in the right place at the right time to get me that chance with Lotus<\/a>. The team was not at the top. Peter was under so much pressure. It was tough for him. The car was not ideal, there wasn\u2019t enough money for development; he had so many elements to deal with.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnny Herbert<\/a> was my team-mate. He was like a son to Peter, and I thought, \u2018Hold on, there are two drivers in this team,\u2019 and I immediately recognised that relationship. In a team you cannot be emotionally attached to anyone. You have to be very disciplined in your emotions, otherwise people start to take sides and this can influence a young driver. Am I getting the best possible support? Am I getting fair treatment? These things can make for a tricky situation but Johnny was a fantastic team-mate. He realised my weaknesses in terms of communicating. He saw that I was quite a shy Finnish guy, so he helped me. He was easy-going \u2013 it was a good match.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnny was so bloody quick too, incredibly fast, and that was a big challenge for me. He was very fast but his problem was his ankles that had been so badly damaged. He was constantly in pain so I don\u2019t think he was performing like he wanted to perform at that time. If you look back over the records it shows we were very evenly matched.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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An easy win at Suzuka in 1998 gave H\u00e4kkinen his first F1 world championship \u2013 and the constructors\u2019 title too; team owner Ron Dennis is delighted<\/p>\n

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Ayrton \u2013 Mika was only joking…<\/p>\n

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H\u00e4kkinen replaced Michael Andretti at McLaren in 1993.<\/p>\n

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In 1993, as test driver for McLaren, you won the Porsche Supercup race in Monaco from pole having never driven a Porsche before. That must have helped you get the race seat?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cI was very frustrated as the test driver. I just wanted to race but it was a great opportunity for a young driver to go to all the testing, develop the MP4\/8 to suit my driving style. In Monaco<\/a>, Ron came to me and said, \u2018Do you want to do the Porsche race?\u2019 and of course I wanted to do it. It\u2019s quite a difficult car to drive, so I just had to adapt and, having done so much F1 testing, it felt really slow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn qualifying, braking hard for Sainte Devote, I couldn\u2019t get the front end to grip into the corner so the team just put more fuel in to add weight to the front. So simple. There were fast and experienced drivers out there. They weren\u2019t very happy when I got pole. They knew how to race these cars, how to look after the tyres, but luckily it was Monaco so I was able to go slow in the right places, be fast in the right places, so they could not overtake me. It was a beautiful experience and I heard later that McLaren<\/a> team manager Jo Ramirez told Ron [Dennis], \u2018Come on, now we have to put this Finlander in the race car,\u2019 which was nice. Ron did a deal with Porsche that gave me a 911 road car for a year. It was silver outside and purple inside. Amazing! I was grateful the team had given me the chance to show my talent and yeah, that was a good weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

You got the race seat in Portugal when Michael Andretti left the team. Then you out-qualified Ayrton Senna, which caused a bit of a stir. How did he react to that?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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A frustrated McLaren test driver caught the eye of Jo Ramirez in 1993 in the Porsche Supercup<\/p>\n

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MH<\/strong>: \u201cThat was a mega result. We had a very special braking system on the MP4\/8, enabling us to adjust the braking right through the race. We had power brakes, incredibly powerful, power steering, active suspension, everything. I knew that car so well. I knew I could drive it on the absolute limit and I never believed anyone could go quicker. I was just so quick in that car. Ayrton understood there were other fast drivers out there but when I came in and kicked his arse on my first race weekend he wanted to understand what I was doing. As a three-times world champion he was very mature, very confident, so he asked me, \u2018Mika, what did you do?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Ayrton, it\u2019s balls,\u2019 and he went berserk, got really upset with me. I was shocked, tried to explain to him that it was a joke, and that of course I respected him for everything that he had achieved but also that we needed some humour.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor him it was a very traumatic moment. People were asking him, \u2018Who is this Finnish guy? What\u2019s happened to Ayrton?<\/a>\u2019 This was an interesting moment for him because he recognised that he now had a big threat within the team and if I started kicking his arse he would look ridiculous. After that, in Japan and Australia, he won both races but I was on the podium with him in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis engineers had started working really hard. He and Giorgio Ascanelli were very close, and because they knew I was a threat they didn\u2019t give a damn about me, what I was doing. They didn\u2019t share or speak about anything. So now my feet were back on the ground. I still had a lot to learn, and I was lucky that Ron gave me the time to learn, to work with the team. He told me, \u2018In time everything will be good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAyrton recognised he had a big threat within the team\u201c<\/blockquote>\n

You appeared to forge a strong relationship with Ron Dennis in the years that followed. Was he important to your success as a driver?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cYes, because I learnt to keep my mouth shut and let Ron do the talking and run the team. He was the number one man and over the years we developed a close relationship. I didn\u2019t try and be the team leader. I didn\u2019t want to waste my energy with any \u2018I want this, I want that, I\u2019m the number one\u2019 stuff and I think Ron respected that. I just did my job as a racing driver who wants to win races, and Ron handled all the rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no complaints. I was positive because I knew that one day there would be good times. He promised me that; he said, \u2018Mika, one day you will be world champion,\u2019 and I said, \u2018OK, I trust you so let\u2019s work together.\u2019 This was a long-term view that required a lot of patience and trust. It wasn\u2019t just my success, it was also thanks to my own management team who took care of me in so many ways in my everyday life, making up for my weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A life-changing moment for H\u00e4kkinen came in qualifying at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide. The left rear tyre punctured and the car crashed at 120mph. Mika suffered a fractured skull<\/p>\n

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After the life-threatening accident in Adelaide in \u201995 you clearly needed huge support to get through a painful recovery and be fit enough to start racing again.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cYes, of course. This also strengthened my relationship with Ron. When he saw I was determined to come back he got even more motivated. He said if I was going to make sacrifices with my life, he was going to sacrifice his time and that way we were going to win. It was very important for me to know that the accident was not my fault, that it was a puncture, and very soon after Ron and his wife Lisa came to see me in hospital to explain what happened. If it had been my driving error it would have influenced my future differently but I knew there was nothing I could have done. I\u2019m not an emotional person and that helped me in my recovery. I was able to put any emotion to one side and focus on my return to racing in a logical way.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack home in Monaco I had a chance to talk with my family, my sister and my girlfriend. There was time for me to explain how I felt and they had the energy to listen. I was constantly in pain. It was not easy for me, or them, but they showed a lot of patience and understanding to go through all that. Physically, I wasn\u2019t 100% there. One side of my face was paralysed, it was difficult to smile, my hearing wasn\u2019t there, bones in my ears were damaged, so I was putting my other senses at a higher level to cope.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t allowed to train. Jogging would cause headaches \u2013 it was tough, but the key for me was the help and support of the family, the doctors, from Ron and McLaren. I didn\u2019t think about stopping, just about getting better. That was my priority. I would make that decision when I could think properly, walk properly. Only then would I think about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mika at the 1997 Australian GP<\/p>\n

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With Senna\u2019s defection to Williams, in 1994 H\u00e4kkinen was promoted to McLaren\u2019s lead driver. Here\u2019s the Finn at Monaco, two weeks after Senna\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s good that you didn\u2019t stop because you won back to back-to-back titles in 1998 and \u201999 \u2013 beating Ferrari\u2019s Michael Schumacher fair and square in \u201998. That must have been so rewarding?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cYes, it was incredible. It was incredible because Michael<\/a> and I had so much history, racing each other in karts and in Formula 3<\/a>. Then he came to Formula 1<\/a>, immediately with a good car, and I was a test driver. I was thinking everything went right for him and not so right for me. He was coming from Germany, with powerful marketing and financial partners, very different to a guy coming from Finland \u2013 but then, finally I got a good car in \u201998, and I knew I could win.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I was not so worried about Michael because the MP4\/13 was just so damn quick. I was more worried about my team-mate David Coulthard.<\/a> He wasn\u2019t a very nice guy, not very nice to me. He had this massive will to win and wanted to kick my arse. We saw in the first race that we were so much quicker than anyone else. It was ridiculous. We weren\u2019t even maximising our performance. Luckily David had quite a few mechanical failures while I was scoring points, and Ferrari started to get their act together. Then I had some mechanical problems and Ferrari became more reliable, scoring points when we did not. Their reliability was incredible. I asked Stefano Domenicali about it recently. He told me they were testing at Fiorano seven days a week. Every nut and bolt they were testing for hours, days, weeks on end. Stefano reckoned they\u2019d done about 35 grands prix before the first race of the season. Meanwhile we would run at Silverstone for a few hours a day, and it was nearly snowing early in the year. It was impossible to compete with them on the pre-season testing kilometres.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not worried about Michael \u2013 the MP4\/13 was so damn quick\u201c<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAnyway, Ferrari<\/a> kept improving, and we had to reduce some of our \u2018technical advantages\u2019 like the two brake pedals, remember? That was worth about four-tenths per lap. It looked like I could lose the championship and I thought, \u2018If I don\u2019t win it this year I\u2019m never going to do it.\u2019 Michael fought until the end. We were level on points after Monza, but I won the last two races. So, it was beautiful, winning that championship title against Michael.\u201d<\/p>\n

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H\u00e4kkinen would make 161 F1 starts<\/p>\n

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In Hakkinen\u2019s first Formula 1 title-winning season, his McLaren MP4\/13 was so effective that the only driver he really feared was team-mate David Coulthard<\/p>\n

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You made hard work of your second title the following year. What was making life difficult for you?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cYes, you\u2019re right. It was a very difficult year. Everything had seemed, \u2018OK, I feel good,\u2019 but we had changed our tactics to beat Ferrari<\/a>. After Michael\u2019s<\/a> accident Irvine was winning races for them. My team-mate was also winning. The championship was tight even though I\u2019d won four races coming to Monza. Our tactic was to race flat out, every lap like a qualifying lap, which was no problem except that in Italy I was on antibiotics because I had a hell of a sinus infection. it was affecting my performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not 100% on race day. So, coming down to the first chicane, in the lead after 30 laps, I accidentally selected first gear instead of second and spun off. At Monza the RPM difference between second and first is huge, so you need a very high throttle blip from the computer \u2013 or the rears will lock up. The team had not put the numbers in the computer for this so the rear tyres locked and I was off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my mistake selecting the wrong gear, but the throttle setting was not high enough, so I knew immediately the game was over. I was so bitterly disappointed with myself, although the rear wheels should not have locked. I was so upset, I didn\u2019t feel well, and I wanted to win that race in front of the Ferrari fans at Monza. Emotionally I just collapsed, totally lost it, but we beat Ferrari in Japan and I won the championship by just two points.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Getting the better of Schumacher at the 1998 Luxembourg GP<\/p>\n

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When you look back on your career in your old age what will be the highlights? One might be the sensational overtake at Spa in 2000 I guess?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cWow, good question. Hopefully I will reach my old age and look back, maybe with a glass of good wine, whatever. No, it won\u2019t be the overtaking manoeuvre at Spa. It will be understanding how precious life is after my accident, how important people are in your life, the people who are there for you. Life is fragile, so you must take care of yourself, your friends, your fans. I appreciate all this after what happened in Adelaide. When you are in the Formula 1 world you have to remember they are not all there just for racing, for winning. There are people who care about you. When I joined McLaren I was only 24. Jo Ramirez was taking care of me. He was fantastic. He made me feel so comfortable in the team, and that was really good for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if I look back, it\u2019s not about great overtaking, how fast Mika was, it\u2019s about all those people in my life, in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Maximum points at the \u201998 Spanish GP.<\/p>\n

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At the end of 2001 you took a sabbatical from Formula 1. People thought you might come back, but you retired. Why did you decide to stop?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cHmm… I just felt burnt out. Completely finito. Even after having time off and a possibility to come back, I knew that my mind and my body were not capable of performing at the level Formula 1 requires. That was the biggest influence. I was just burnt out, you know. That\u2019s what it was. Simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you make of Formula 1 today? Does it still interest and excite you?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cOn the technical side, the new technologies, there\u2019s always something wrong. It\u2019s never totally right. What\u2019s important for the fans is that the cars have to look spectacular, look beautiful, and Formula 1 needs innovations that people can see and understand. In general I think it has developed in a good way to be where it is today. We have two teams racing so hard for victory. Red Bull doing a great job, and Mercedes catching up, even if they don\u2019t always know why. So, for me, the racing aspect is good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere in the paddock is really cool. It\u2019s much more open, more fun out there, and I don\u2019t see too many negatives. It\u2019s a very complicated business and people are working so hard, working like crazy. I\u2019m not going to sit here on my sofa in Monaco and criticise these people who work so hard, committing their lives to the sport. So yeah, I think Formula 1 is doing a fantastic job right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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H\u00e4kkinen with ally Jo Ramirez in 2001<\/p>\n

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On his way to pole at the 2000 Belgian GP<\/p>\n

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Your two youngest children are karting now so might we see another H\u00e4kkinen at the front of the grid in the not-too-distant future?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cAha, well, maybe. Ella and Daniel are karting, and they like it, but getting as far as Formula 1, for instance, is the same old story, just like it has always been. You need the talent, you need a passion, and the will to fulfil your goals \u2013 and you need a hell of a lot of money \u2013 millions of euros. So far my kids love what they\u2019re doing, that\u2019s great, but it\u2019s also about a commitment from me and my wife, what we decide to do. To reach the top levels of motor racing is a big commitment, an unbelievable journey. You cannot go half way. It\u2019s maximum or nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaniel is eight years old, Ella is 11, so maybe if you ask me in five or six years\u2019 time I\u2019ll give you the answer. Then we will have seen how they develop, how well they have learnt. If they succeed. I will call you to help find some sponsors!\u201d<\/p>\n

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All good: Mika is now 54 but still likes to get behind the wheel of a kart… but only if the sun is shining<\/p>\n

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What about you. Are you karting for fun, keeping your eye in?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

MH<\/strong>: \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about it because karting is such an excellent exercise for your body. It is beautiful exercise because it requires every muscle in your body to perform in a kart. So yeah, I\u2019m considering it, not indoors but out on a track where you have some power.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ll tell you something, I am not racing in the rain, no way. I\u2019ve lived in the Monaco sunshine for too long. Not all Finns like the rain you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n \n\n\n

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  • 1987 Following success in karts, H\u00e4kkinen acquires JJ Lehto\u2019s Reynard 86FF and wins Finnish, Swedish and Scandinavian (Nordic)Formula Ford titles.<\/li>\n
  • 1988 Wins Formula GM-Lotus Euroseries with Dragon Motorsport.<\/li>\n
  • 1989-90 Graduates to Formula 3, first with Dragon and then with West Surrey Racing for whom he becomes British F3 champion. But outfoxed by Michael Schumacher at Macau.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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  • \u00a01991-92 Steps up to F1 under Peter Collins at Team Lotus. Fourth in France and Hungary in second season, in Ford-powered 107.<\/li>\n
  • 1993 Joins McLaren as test driver, but promoted to race seat in Portugal when Michael Andretti quits F1. Outqualifies Ayrton Senna first time out. 1994 Leads McLaren as Senna joins Williams. Frustrated by uncompetitive Peugeot V10.<\/li>\n
  • 1995 First year of McLaren-Mercedes partnership. Promising season ends in near-death Adelaide crash.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • 1996-97 Makes remarkable recovery. Becomes an F1 winner at Jerez 1997.<\/li>\n
  • 1998-99 Scores back-to-back F1 world titles with Adrian Newey-designed McLarens.<\/li>\n
  • 2000-01 Defeated by Schumacher, form slips and announces a sabbatical \u2013 which eventually is confirmed as F1 retirement.<\/li>\n
  • 2005-07 Racing swansong for Mercedes in DTM.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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