Author Topic: Hakkinen fined for Mugello antics  (Read 2216 times)

Offline fasteddy

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Hakkinen fined for Mugello antics
« on: July 27, 2007, 11:32:46 AM »
By Glenn Freeman Friday, July 27th 2007, 16:27 GMT


Mika Hakkinen has been fined and given a suspended penalty for taking his crash helmet off on the cool down lap at Mugello.

The Mercedes driver had to pay a fine of 1,000 euros, and he has been handed a suspended penalty of five places on the grid if he commits an offence this weekend.

The Finn had won the race in Italy from 15th on the grid, and he admitted that he did take his helmet off when he shouldn't have.

"I did do it," Hakkinen said. "On my in lap I was going very slowly, and I needed some air, so I took my crash helmet off.

"The way the cooling works in these cars, it's based on how fast you go, so there was no air coming in."

Hakkinen added that the reason he was going slowly was because he was overjoyed with taking his second win of the season.

"I was going slowly because I was so happy," he said. "I started 15th, so it was a small miracle to get the victory.

"Winning that race and fighting like crazy on the last 17 laps, it was very difficult. So afterwards I went slowly."