14 replies to this topic

[911]

Does anyone know if Mika has expressed any opinion of Michael's ability during the '93 season? I've read small excerpts of Senna on Michael, but haven't heard of anything from Mika. I'm just curious. Thanks.

911

[fines]

I don't know, but I'd think it just wasn't his business to comment on other drivers.


__________________
Michael Ferner

Mr. Bush and cohorts have done a lot of damage to the relationship with their European friends and allies, and it will take them a lot of effort to patch things up.
Yet they haven't even stopped damaging - Does it really take that long to wake up???

[911]

I suppose you are correct. Mika hardly speaks to begin with, let alone about other drivers.

[Pyry L]

Oh c´mon, like some article stated that compared to Raikkonen, Mika Hakkinen can described as chatty ;) However I do believe that his response to such a question would be:
"that's a tough question...maybe...............maybe it's a question you have to ask the Michael".
(courtesy of the why did the chicken cross the road thread)

[Marcel Schot]

Why would Hakkinen have something to say on Andretti in the first place? They never raced together. When Mika replaced Andretti he only said he was glad to be back in F1 as far as I know.

[911]

Originally posted by Marcel Schot
Why would Hakkinen have something to say on Andretti in the first place?

Mika was the test driver for McLaren during Andretti's brief stint there, so I'm going to assume that he had some type of professional relationship with him.

[Marco94]

I do remember one particular episode of the BBC serie "The Team, a year with McLaren." Is was all recorded during the 1993 season, and some parts were downright hillarious.

Take for instance testing at Silverstone. I always maintained that Andretti was really limited by the 12 laps rule of the time. He only had the race weekend to learn the track, and the car as setup for that track. Testing in Silverstone provided another Micheal however.

The footage from those tests were brilliant. Hakkinen was shown a laptrace which included him and Andretti. IIRC he was slower. The black line being Hakkinen and the green line was Andretti. So first of all Mika deducted that the green line was him. It showed the fastest car after all. "No," said the engineers, "that's Micheal." "But I am quicker, right?" "No, Micheal is. The black line is below the green line." After some more think it occured to Mika that something was wrong, most probably with the engine. At this point Neil Oatley and Giorgio Ascanelli had a short conversation about Mika. The result? These legendary words by Ascanelli: "Either we have an engine problem, or we have a brain failiure."

[Marcel Schot]

Originally posted by 911


Mika was the test driver for McLaren during Andretti's brief stint there, so I'm going to assume that he had some type of professional relationship with him.

True, but on the other hand commenting on Andretti could have impacted Mika's chances. I can't really recall any testdriver who commented (positive or negative) about a driver in his team. Bash him and the pressure on yourself rises. Praise him and you're less likely to take over. At least that's the way I see it. Then again, I'm no F1 driver ofcourse

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Marco94
I do remember one particular episode of the BBC serie "The Team, a year with McLaren." Is was all recorded during the 1993 season, and some parts were downright hillarious.

Something I posted after seeing one of the episodes, proving that Ronzo has a human side:

From: pete@minster.york.ac.uk (pete@minster.york.ac.uk)
Subject: Re: McLaren on TV.
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport
Date: 1993-11-17 00:36:16 PST


Steven Glenister (steven@abekrd.co.uk) wrote:
: Friday 12th November, there's a program called "A Season With McLaren"
: on BBC sounds interesting, has anyone seen it yet ?

I finally caught it on video at a friend's house last night. I thought it
was excellent, particularly Ron Dennis talking to his children -- at least,
I presume "Charleyrascal" and "Big Boy" were his children, and not, say,
youthful F3 drivers looking for testing contracts or something :-)

pete

A pity it's never turned up on video.

[Ray Bell]

Brilliant closing sentence there, Marco...

I always thought it was a shame that Michael never put the required effort into F1. What might have been seen as recklessness in CART would have been lauded as competitiveness in Europe... pity it didn't eventuate.

[Nustang70]

Originally posted by Marcel Schot


True, but on the other hand commenting on Andretti could have impacted Mika's chances. I can't really recall any testdriver who commented (positive or negative) about a driver in his team. Bash him and the pressure on yourself rises. Praise him and you're less likely to take over. At least that's the way I see it. Then again, I'm no F1 driver ofcourse

Davidson sounds pretty negative about Villeneuve this year...(from Atlas, Dec. 2002)

But Davidson believes that the pressure will only fire up Villeneuve even more - and admitted that the outspoken Canadian could upset the 'happy family' that has now developed without him at BAR.

"It's good to have Jenson and Taku here because at least we will have three of us who get on next year," said Davidson, pointing out Villeneuve's unpopularity. "Let's just hope he doesn't upset things."

[masterhit]

Originally posted by Marco94
I do remember one particular episode of the BBC serie "The Team, a year with McLaren." Is was all recorded during the 1993 season, and some parts were downright hillarious.

Take for instance testing at Silverstone. I always maintained that Andretti was really limited by the 12 laps rule of the time. He only had the race weekend to learn the track, and the car as setup for that track. Testing in Silverstone provided another Micheal however.

The footage from those tests were brilliant. Hakkinen was shown a laptrace which included him and Andretti. IIRC he was slower. The black line being Hakkinen and the green line was Andretti. So first of all Mika deducted that the green line was him. It showed the fastest car after all. "No," said the engineers, "that's Micheal." "But I am quicker, right?" "No, Micheal is. The black line is below the green line." After some more think it occured to Mika that something was wrong, most probably with the engine. At this point Neil Oatley and Giorgio Ascanelli had a short conversation about Mika. The result? These legendary words by Ascanelli: "Either we have an engine problem, or we have a brain failiure."

I remember that, and have it on tape somewhere. There's also a moment where Ron Dennis talks to Michael Schumacher, complimenting him and telling him to pay a visit to the team, have a look have a feel. Michael says "I am sure I will do this someday".

Both examples show how many what-if's there are in life, don't they? Mika repaid Ron's faith in him, but it could have easily went the the other way if the talent wasn't there, etc etc.

It would have been interesting to have seen Michael in a McLaren, speaking purely from the human relationship point of view. It would not have been good PR for him however as back then it was not unknown to see hate flags for Michael, and dominance brings enough criticism on its own without the fact that there would have been, sadly, an increased anti-German sentiment if he had happened to dominate while being powered by Mercedes engines. Not getting involved in that hotbed was a wise move.

Choosing to drive Ferrari would make him universally popular. You don't even have to win to be popular, you just have to drive there.

This was a wise decision as it meant that he would make even more money: for increased popularity equals more money from personal merchandising/sponsorship deals. That had to be a factor in his decision, amongst many things, sentimental values, the potential at Ferrari, a greater chance to be involved in the organisation of the team, etc.

Anyway, back on topic, there probably are quotes from Hakkinen on Andretti out there, buried in a forgotten racing magazine, somewhere.... He certainly boasted how much quicker he was than Mansell, what he said to Ayrton Senna after outqualifying him that one and only time at Portugal etc. That was in an online interview. Maybe I will look for it...

[Rediscoveryx]

That Ascanelli scene was a real classic

[masterhit]

Originally posted by Rediscoveryx
That Ascanelli scene was a real classic

LOL, it was!

Also, just trying to show that there are two sides to every story, and that Ascanelli was definitely making a deal of it because it was on camera, later on, in the Adelaide grand prix, there's a classic scene where Ascanelli is unable to work out the fuel calculations for Ayrton in his head, and gets really agitated when he is asked. Ron's face is an absolute picture!

[David M. Kane]

I think Michael got bad advice from Mario. He flew back and forth and he thought Michael could do the same...not! Secondly, he just didn't fit in
and his wife didn't help any. At the time she would show up in these totally ridiculous costumes that not embarassed herself but churned up a lot of stereotypical "American" comments up and down the pit lane.

Clearly, Michael had the ability, he just needed to get the seat time that
he never got. I put the blame squarely on Michael, he signed a deal that
he was not prepared to make the necessary sacrifices needed for success.

Mika had everything to loss and nothing to gain by saying ANYTHING. Frankly, it was none of our business at the time.