Two-times Formula One Champion, Mika Hakkinen, scored world titles in 1998 and 1999 for the all-conquering McLaren-Mercedes Benz team. With 20 Formula One race victories and 51 top-three podium finishes to his credit, he ranks among the most successful drivers of all time and is widely regarded as one of the fastest drivers of the modern era.
Mika won his first Grand Prix in Jerez, Spain, in 1997 and never looked back, collecting his first World Championship in style in 1998. He won eight of the 16 races. Although 1999 was a tougher year, he came back strongly, scoring a further five Grands Prix victories en route to retaining his crown at the final race of the season.
By then, he was well established as the only man capable of out-racing Michael Schumacher, and the German star publicly recognised this. Mika’s confidence in racing Schumacher wheel-to-wheel was most famously illustrated by a 300kph overtaking manoeuvre during the Belgian Grand Prix in 2000. Today it is regarded as one of the greatest overtaking manoeuvres in F1 history.
