Originally posted by CLX
How was Hakkinen's accident in Australia? I just can't remember it, no matter how hard I try. 
And here's some more about the accidnet. Copied from
http://www.hakkinen.net/ "articles and interviews":
"On the tenth of November, 1995, Mika Häkkinen headed towards Brewery Bend, the McLaren’s brakes dug into the speed that it carried around the corner. Mika changed gear, down into fifth and positioned the car to the left, making full use of the wide track. These actions combined, enabled a smoother, easier passage through the right hander. The apex opened to take the McLaren, Mika began to turn into the corner.
Suddenly, dramatically, the car snapped totally out of control. The right front tyre hung off the ground…The left rear tyre punctured... Frantically Mika worked the wheel LEFT LEFT LEFT!... The car reached the apex of the corner sideways and then slewed and travelled backwards. The kerbing launched the car a metre or so into the air. It screamed towards the tyre wall like a stone skimming a pond, and as it went, it bounced three times. By the third bounce, the car had rotated to be facing forwards again. Mika hit the barriers, which had a shallow row of tyres, at 200kmph. He did not move in the car so the marshals ran to him.
Mika's head had lolled about in the cockpit because of the lack of protection, then, as the car made impact, his head hit the steering wheel with frantic ferocity, fracturing his skull, rebounded and hit the rear, left and right of the cockpit. The impact itself was significant. The concrete wall behind the tyres had shifted back one foot. The crash literally moved the whole wall. The crash helmet had fractured the steering wheel - that's how deep the impact was.
Two of the medical staff who were quick on the scene were doctors at the Adelaide Hospital. Their speciality was dealing with accidents such as this. They operated on Mika right away at the trackside (assisted by Prof Sid Watkins), performing an emergency tracheoctomy to enable air into Mika's lungs as he was unconscious and could not breathe for himself. A lot of blood was escaping from Mika's mouth.
Mika has no memory of the accident itself. He only remembers being in the car, unable to see, or to move. He also remembers pain when the medical crew passed the tube into his throat. It was vital that these men were at the track and that they were able to perform such emergency surgery. If not, Mika would have died as he was already dangerously close to being starved of oxygen.
After a few more measures were taken (drips into the arm, etc), Mika was taken to the hospital.
As happens in F1, rumours began to spread before facts were known. The paddock got the news that Mika had died. They then received following reports that he was alive but had suffered serious brain damage.
Until Mika regained consciousness, the doctors did indeed believe that it was likely for him to have sustained brain damage. They did not know if he would come out of the coma, and if he did, whether he would be able to talk or to move.
The following morning, Mika woke. He was still heavily concussed but he needed to know something. He was unable to talk at this stage but he could move his arms and hands.
Mika’s eyes surveyed the room and he understood that he was in hospital.
A doctor - Stephen Lewis (who was one of the doctors on hand at the track) - leaned over him, making the necessary checks. Mika lifted a hand and manipulated two fingers across his chest, mimicking human motion. Silently, he was asking Lewis to tell him whether he could still walk. Mika was perhaps thinking, "If I can still walk - I can still drive racing cars". Stephen Lewis responded with a silent but completely international gesture of his own: Thumbs up. A slow smile spread across Mika's face and he sank back into a very deep sleep.
The next time he awoke, he was more conscious. He remembers Erja at his side and Ron and Lisa Dennis who was holding his hand. Sid Watkins spoke to Mika and said "Mika, you have been a very fortunate young man because you will not require any brain surgery." This shocked Mika as it was only then that he began to realise the severity of the accident.
As he awoke more fully, Mika needed two things. First he needed to know whether the accident was his mistake, which it was not, and second, he wanted a toothbrush to brush his teeth!
And from there the long road to recovery began, and the rest, as they say, is history. Amazingly, Mika started the 1996 season along with everyone else, and strangely enough, the first race of the year was the Australian GP - this time at Melbourne. Mika still has a few problems as a result of the crash, but it didn't stop him winning the world championship back-to-back.
Postscript: In 1995, there was little or no safety protection around the driver's head. In fact, it was Mika's accident at Brewery Bend that sparked the introduction of the new cockpits with better head protection. There was even talk of bringing in air-bags although this idea is still very much in the early stages."
A full and detailed account of the accident and Mika’s amazing recovery can be found in Christopher Hilton’s excellent biography, Mika Häkkinen: Doing What Comes Naturally.
yours,
ever so biased MIKABEST
) English. So those pressconferences must have been comedy afterall 
)
