Written by: Adam Cooper, RACER Magazine
Balen, Belgium ? 11/17/2006
Grand prix racing is currently enjoying the curiously quiet annual period of limbo that follows the final race of the season and runs until testing recommences at the end of November. For drivers and the majority of race team members, it?s a rare chance for some time off, although those responsible for designing and developing the cars are still hard at it.
Not a lot has happened since the Brazilian GP on October 22, mainly because most things were sorted out well before then. Even the political side has been unusually quiet, which just this week?s activity from Max Mosley and GPMA boss Burkhard Goschel to liven things up.
We?ve had one driver announcement ? the hardly surprising news that Anthony Davidson is going to Super Aguri ? and a few testing deals have been firmed up. One of only two race seats still available is the second berth at Spyker, for which Tiago Monteiro remains favorite, although he is by no means guaranteed an extension of his deal. The other is at McLaren.
We?ve assumed for some time that it was a straight choice between Lewis Hamilton and Pedro de la Rosa, and perhaps it still might be. But this week came the news that Mika Hakkinen has apparently thrown his hat into the ring. And giving it credence is the fact that he?s been allowed a run in the team?s factory simulator ? the next best thing to actually testing a car on a track.
So what?s going on? Mika turned up in Interlagos and spent a lot of time hanging around with McLaren. That was no great surprise; he has such a good relationship with the team that they are bound to treat him a rather more than the average VIP guest. He has of course maintained his links with the ?family? by driving for Mercedes in the DTM over the past two seasons.
But the notion that he is apparently interested in a return to an F1 cockpit is an extraordinary one. He recently turned 38, he has not raced a grand prix car for five seasons, and when he last did so he was not the driver he once was. And whoever gets the ?other? McLaren ? I hesitate use the word ?second? because team boss Ron Dennis is always keen to point out the cars are equal ? will be up against Fernando Alonso, a double World Champion at the very top of his game. What is Mika thinking?
First, a little history lesson. Mika won the World Championship in 1998 and 1999, and had a pretty good run at it in 2000, in the face of a resurgent challenge from Michael Schumacher. But the following year there were questions about his commitment. In Monaco, after running well in the early laps he retired an apparently healthy car after what can only be described as spooking himself. Clearly psyched out in some way, he told Ron Dennis after the race that he was having doubts about his future.
The conclusion was that Mika should keep going to the end of the year, and then have a ?sabbatical? and see how he felt about coming back in 2003. Ron moved quickly to sign up Sauber rookie Kimi Raikkonen as replacement, but insisted that there would be a place for Mika if he wanted it. The curious thing was that David Coulthard also had a deal that extended into 2003, so McLaren had commitments to three drivers. It didn?t take long for Kimi to make his mark in 2002, and it was pretty clear that there was no way he could be ask to step down to let Mika back in. How would Ron deal with the conundrum of three into two?
We never found out, because at Hockenheim in 2002, the team confirmed that Mika would not be coming back, and Kimi and DC would indeed be the drivers the following year. Mika spent three full years on the sidelines, making the odd brief appearance in the paddock at Monaco. When he got a little tired of focusing on the routine of family life ? he was never the sort to have businesses or such like outside of racing ? Mercedes bent over backwards to sort out a DTM drive. It was the least they could do.
So for the past two seasons Mika has raced in DTM, with limited success in a championship in which form is so carefully dictated by the manufacturers. At one stage he also had some contact with Williams about a drive, but it didn?t happen.
Now it seems he feels that he really could turn the clock back and step into an F1 car once again. It may or may not be a coincidence that Mika is getting itchy feet just as his old rival Michael Schumacher retires. Mika is actually 97 days older than Michael, and perhaps with the German?s departure he?s had a good think about his own age, about motivation, about ticking clocks, and so on. Perhaps he feels that at 39 the flame really does still burn.
Michael Schumacher says his battles with Hakkinen were the ones he will remember best. (LAT photo)
The pair?s careers followed very similar paths in that they raced against each other in F3, famously having an incident in Macau in 1990 that saw the Finn in the barrier. Both made their F1 debuts in 1991, Mika in a full-time drive with Lotus from the start of the year, Michael from Spa onwards with Jordan and then Benetton. It was Michael who then had the right opportunities and got to the World Championship first, but from ?98-?00, they were each other?s main rivals.
Since then both men have enjoyed a sort of love-in, with Michael frequently saying that his fights with Mika were the most enjoyable. The names of Hill and Villeneuve were far from his lips. Mika?s trip to Interlagos certainly seemed in part to be in homage to Michael. When I caught up with him he was keen to talk about the Ferrari man?s battle with Alonso, and he?d clearly been keeping track on what had been going on.
?My experience racing against Michael is that he never gives up, he goes all the way to the end,? he said. ?When the checkered flag is waved the race is over, and he will push all the way until then.?
In retrospect it was intriguing to hear his views on how Michael will find retirement.
?At the end of the day racing in general is such a fascinating sport. Driving a racing car is always fascinating, it gives you a great buzz, and it?s always challenging for your mind to perform in a racing car, working with the mechanics and the engineers of the team.
?It?s very, very difficult. We?re all individuals, we think a little bit differently. I think racing is very close to his heart, he always will miss racing sooner or later. As long as you?re fresh in your mind, fit in your body, you can do racing, whatever it is.
?Obviously I had quite a few years off after F1, and I had enough about F1. I had a great time off, a good time with the family, decided to go back to DTM, decided to go back to racing, and enjoyed it enormously. It?s a great challenge, and really motivating, and it gives you a great buzz.?
It remains to be seen if Mika is really serious, if McLaren is taking him seriously, or whether this is a silly season story that all players are happy to let run until it fizzles out. The factory simulator session is something the team would probably do for any past driver who bothered to ask to have a play. But was there more to it than that?
Ron Dennis certainly has a soft spot for Mika, and the accident that nearly cost the Finn his life in Adelaide in 1995 created a bond unlike any Dennis has had with another driver, including Ayrton Senna. But if anything that may cause him to try to discourage Mika from pursuing the comeback trail, however determined Hakkinen himself actually is. After all, Lewis Hamilton?s long-term welfare has to be a priority ? he represents the future.
But what if Dennis has been erring towards a year of testing for the young Briton? If so, the decision for 2007 would be between Mika and Pedro de la Rosa. The latter is far better than many outsiders think and pushed Raikkonen hard at times this year. But he is not a double World Champion, and he?s not the marketable commodity that Mika could be, especially when two Spaniards in the same team could be one too many in commercial terms. We await developments with interest?
