Mika Häkkinen

Häkkinen at the 1992 Australian Grand Prix

**Mika Pauli Häkkinen** (born 28 September 1968) is a Finnish racing driver, currently competing for McLaren in Formula One.

Häkkinen began his career in karting at the age of five and achieved success by winning regional and national kart championships. He progressed to car racing when he entered the Formula Ford and Formula Three series in Italy and the United Kingdom. After success in the series, Häkkinen would enter Formula One in 1990, replacing Alessandro Nannini for the final two rounds, after Nannini had a career ending accident. Häkkinen would be given a full time race seat with Team Lotus for 1991 and 1992. For 1993, he moved to McLaren to partner Michael Andretti after the departure of Joey Davies and Michael Schumacher.

## Early Life and Career

Häkkinen was born in Helsingin maalaiskunta, Finland, on 28 September 1968 to Harri, a shortwave radio operator and a part-time taxi driver, and Aila Häkkinen, who worked as a secretary. He has one sister, Nina. Häkkinen lived in the same street as Mika Salo with the two later becoming friends. As a child, Häkkinen played ice hockey and football.

When Häkkinen was five years old, his parents rented a go-kart for him to take to a track near their home. Despite an early crash, Häkkinen wished to continue racing, and his father bought him his first go-kart, one that Henri Toivonen had previously competed with. He later won his first karting race in 1975 at the Keimola Motor Stadium where he raced in the regional karting championships in 1978 and 1979, winning the Keimola Club Championship in both years. Häkkinen found further success in 1980 when he won the Swedish Lapland Cup and finished fourth in the 85cc class of the Lapland Karting Championship. Around this time, Häkkinen also drove a Volkswagen Beetle on the frozen lakes of Finland with friend Mika Sohlberg.

In 1981, Häkkinen won his first major karting title, the 85cc class of the Finnish Karting Championship. The following year, he finished runner-up in the 85cc class of the Formula Mini series and later won the Ronnie Peterson Memorial event and the Salpauselka Cup in Lahti. Häkkinen moved to the Formula Nordic 100cc class for 1983, where he became the champion on his first attempt and also participated in the A Junior Team Races for Finland alongside Taru Rinne, Jaana Nyman and Marko Mankonen, with the line-up taking the championship.

In 1984, Häkkinen won the 100cc Formula Nordic title and later participated in the World Kart Championship race held in Liedolsheim. He took his second consecutive 100cc Formula Nordic Championship in 1985 ahead of Jukka Savolainen. He took part in the Nordic Championship A-Class in the same year, finishing runner-up to Tom Kristensen. Häkkinen went to Parma to participate in the World Kart Championship where he retired before the event's final heat due to a mechanical problem. In 1986, he reached his third consecutive Formula Nordic 100cc title and also took part in karting events across Europe. To further fund his career, Häkkinen got a job with a friend repairing bicycles.

In 1987, Häkkinen made the transition from karting to car racing when he purchased a 1986 Reynard Formula Ford 1600 from fellow Finn JJ Lehto. In that year, he entered the Finnish, Swedish and Nordic Formula Ford Championships, winning each title on his first attempt and won nine races combined. Häkkinen also entered two races of the EDFA 1600 Championship and raced in the Formula Ford Festival held at Brands Hatch, where he finished in seventh position. In 1988, Häkkinen entered the EFDA Formula GM Lotus Euroseries with the Dragon team, where he secured four victories and finished the runner-up in the championship, behind Allan McNish. He later entered the Opel-Lotus EDFA Euroseries, taking four victories and became Champion with 126 points, ahead of nearest rival Henrik Larsen.

Going into 1989, Häkkinen moved from the Euroseries into the British Formula 3 Championship driving a Reynard 893 chassis for Dragon. He finished seventh position in the championship, scoring 18 points. He was later invited to participate in the Cellnet Formula Three SuperPrix for West Surrey Racing as a guest driver where he secured pole position and the victory. He also raced in the tenth round of the French Formula 3 championship at Le Mans-Bugatti on 24 September and finished third behind Éric Hélary and Laurent Daumet.

In 1990, Häkkinen applied to become a member of the "*Marlboro World Championship Team*" through what was akin to a fully sponsored racing driver academy. Its members were short-listed for testing by a judging panel including McLaren Formula One team boss Ron Dennis (whose team was sponsored by Marlboro), Formula One World Champion James Hunt, and Formula 3000 team bosses, Mike Earle and Hugues de Chaunac. In an April 2015 interview, Earle recounted that Häkkinen's application was the last one that he reviewed at the end of a long day, despite protests by Hunt who had already made plans to head to a pub for a beer. Häkkinen performed strongly in his test and went on to secure Marlboro's sponsorship. That same year, therefore, Häkkinen left Dragon and moved to the West Surrey Racing team and won the British Formula 3 series, by taking nine victories en route to the Championship, with 121 points, ahead of fellow Finn Salo. In November, Häkkinen entered the Macau Grand Prix where he drove to pole position and won the first heat of the event. He retired from the second heat due to a last-lap collision with German Formula Three driver and future Formula One rival Schumacher, who was classified as the overall winner.

## Formula One

### Benetton (1990)

Häkkinen made his first test in a Formula One car with the Benetton team driving 90 laps around the Silverstone Circuit and set quicker lap times than regular driver Alessandro Nannini. He found it difficult to fit into the Benetton, but liked the steering and throttle response. Häkkinen expected not to be offered a seat at Benetton and he decided to sign with the Lotus team for the 1991 season. However, following Nannini being involved in a helicopter crash and suffering a career ending injury to his hand, Häkkinen was called upon to complete the final two rounds of the season. At the Japanese Grand Prix, he would qualify 9th, running in 8th until throttle issues forced him into retirement. At the final round in Australia he would finish in 8th and while he had failed to score, he had shown that he had promise and could achieve regular points finishes in 1991 for Lotus.

### Lotus (1991–1992)

For the 1991 season Häkkinen would be partnered by the experienced Ulsterman Martin Donnelly and a works Judd engine in his Lotus 102B. However, the Lotus was not as competitive as it had been in previous years and he would be unable to get a points finish in 1991 and in fact his best finish would come at the British Grand Prix when he came home in 10th. His efforts were not helped by the reliability of the Lotus and the Judd engine, with Häkkinen retiring from half the races in 1991. While he failed to score for Lotus he had shown solid performance and he was retained for 1992.

For 1992 Häkkinen would be partnered by Mark Blundell and following a year of poor performance with the Judd engines, Lotus would switch to Ford Cosworth power for 1992. The Ford Cosworth was a more reliable engine, but the deficiencies of the Lotus 102D were evident as both Blundell and Häkkinen would struggle for much of the season. For Häkkinen, the highlight of the first half of the season would be a 9th place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix. Lotus brought out a revised chassis, the 107, in hopes it might lead to more success, but the improvement in performance did not come. Häkkinen did qualify well, but the car lacked race pace and without the upgraded Ford Cosworth HBA7 V8 available to Benetton, the Lotus had another pointless season. However, Häkkinen had done enough to impress Ron Dennis and with the departure of Davies and Schumacher, McLaren looked to partner Häkkinen and Andretti for 1993.

## Personal Life

Häkkinen has a close personal friendship with current Formula One compatriots and fellow Finnish drivers Mika Salo and JJ Lehto, as well as former World Champion Keke Rosberg. Häkkinen has lived in Monaco since 1991.

## Formula One Statistical Overview

### Formula One Record

 1991 |  Team Lotus

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.

### Complete Formula One results

(key)

Notes

* \* – Season still in progress.