#Mika

#Mika

Mika Häkkinen First F1 test ever

1990 Silverstone / Benetton - Ford V8 B188

MICHAEL and MIKA during a Karting Championship in Liedolsheim, Germany 1986.

#Keke

Can you tell us more about ron psycopath dennis coming to keke because keke didn't want to leave sick nico behind?

so in 1992 mika hakkinen, at the time driving for lotus, signed a contract to drive with williams for the following year (an excellent decision as williams won the constructors championships in 92 & 93, and took the drivers' championships with mansell in 92 and prost in 93). lotus protested the decision, claiming that hakkinen was still under contract to them, and williams withdrew their offer (they eventually paid keke and mika damages, because the contract was actually fine and by withdrawing, they were in breach).

this meant that by the winter break, mika didn't actually have a drive for the following year. keke spoke to ligier, but they were unwilling to actually sign mika, so keke called ron dennis. ron dennis reportedly wanted a longer, more formal meeting, but at the time, nico, who was about 7 years old, was very ill with some sort of blood disease, and keke didn't want to leave for any real length of time.

so two days before christmas, while ron dennis was skiing in the alps, keke made him leave his resort and meet keke at courchevel airport (apparently one of the world's most extreme airports) in the middle of the night to sign the deal. ron dennis showed up, signed the deal, mika officially became the test/reserve driver for mclaren, and keke flew back to nico.

this was keke and ron's relationship when keke drove for him. it doesn't seem like the dynamic changed much when keke stopped racing.

lewis hamilton shower gel ad #startyourengine

Mika at the opening of the new helicopter platform of the Royal Adelaide Hospital which he helped fund.

Fashion babe Mika Häkkinen channeling his inner Bond Villain for Hugo Boss.

Mika Hakkinen retrieved from his car following a big crash in Adelaide, 1995 (x)

“I remember being in the wall. I couldn’t move my legs and arms, I couldn’t focus. I thought, OK Mika, just relax, don’t fight it, don’t panic, everything is going to be OK. Then I was gone, I don’t remember any more.” (...) Eventually Mika was lifted into an ambulance and taken to the Royal Adelaide where his head was scanned – among other injuries, he had a fractured skull – and he was placed in intensive care. He regained consciousness the next day. “I was lying there with tubes everywhere, so I knew I was in a hospital. The first person I saw was Lisa Dennis, then Ron’s wife, this tall figure by the bed with blonde hair and a big smile, and I thought she must be an angel. Then I saw Ron standing next to her, and I thought, OK, I am not in heaven yet." “Then the hell started because I was in hospital in Australia for weeks. The doctors did a great job, and I know they saved my life where the accident happened, but I had so many tests and operations. Crazy tests, needles in my face to test the nerves, drilling a hole in my head to relieve the pressure, things like that. It was nasty. At first, because of the pain, I was thinking, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die.’ My whole life was looking at my watch to see when was it time for them to turn the valve in my drip for the next dose of drugs. The accident had damaged the nerves in my face and I couldn’t move my eyelids, so they had to tape my eyes shut to help me try to sleep. I couldn’t drink properly because my mouth didn’t work, so the water just fell out of my mouth. It was disgusting. I remember thinking, ‘This doesn’t look good.’ It wasn’t, ‘Will I be able to race again?’ It was, ‘Will I ever be able to live a normal life?’ “Finally I was able to walk in the garden, carrying my drip bottles, my head shaved like some bloody hooligan. I tried to look at things, the weather, the trees, the birds, but all I could think about was my next dose of painkillers. But I had great support from everybody, my girlfriend, my parents, my manager Didier Coton. My fitness trainer stayed all the time, because I didn’t want to be alone at night.”

The whole recovery was difficult. I really had to fight every day to get back, physically and psychologically. Soon I started running, even though I was still getting massive headaches. I knew I was getting better and better, and eventually Prof said, ‘OK Mika, you can do a test.’ I still had problems with my face and with my hearing – I’d had a couple of ear operations – but I went to Paul Ricard.” It was Monday February 5th, 87 days after the accident. “When I arrived everything was friendly, but I saw how the mechanics looked at me. I tried to behave like the normal Mika, but I knew they were thinking, ‘He won’t be able to do it, he’ll have to go back home.’ I thought, I’m going to show these guys, I’m coming back to win. When I got in the car I felt, this is my home, this is my office, and I went for it.” He did 63 laps, the best of which was half a second faster than Schumacher’s Ferrari had done the previous day. “I finished the test, said to the mechanics, ‘It’s fine. Pack up the car, take it back to England. I’ll see you in Melbourne.’”

Mika Hakkinen, 2010 (x)

Lewis and Jenson watch DC kiss Mika. Because that’s apparently a thing that new teammates do? Watch Ayrton & Alain cuddle & fight, and Mika & DC kiss. What exactly was the purpose of sitting Jenson and Lewis in front of this film, again….?

Anyway, Lewis’s opinion on them pre-kiss: “they look like lovers.” Jenson is busy laughing at how young DC looks, Lewis looks sort of… wistful? Or is that just my imagination?

This entire segment with them is gold, I love it.

(Sorry for the poor quality, I achieved this technical miracle by the hi-tech solution of holding up my phone to my TV.)

Mika Hakkinen  1991

#Mika

lotus teammates mika hakkinen and johnny herbert | 1991 f1 season