Unexpected Hakkinen

[climb]

Dunno if anyone has already put this topic under discussion in other threads, but Autosport reports a very "flavoured" interview to Mika, in which he salams almost evry title challenger, except for Kimi.

http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=25950&s=5

topic open to discussion.
Just Must say that the tone of this interview seems to me quite surprising, for a cool bloke like Mika.

[DavidStHubbins]

I agree with everything Mika says in that article - he is still a cool dude

Minor headline in Finland recently - Mika admits his belly has got bigger.

[Suzy]

He has a right to air his opinion, he knows 100% more about the contenders and how F1 works than we do, I fully-agree with his comments on Button and Massa.

It is surprising to those people who think that Mika is a robot under Ron's spell. He does have the ability to think for himself and now he's free of any politically-correct restraints he can say what he thinks. Those of us who have encounted Mika in an environment when he's free of PR-speak have always loved his outspoken ways and dry humour.

I've not read the full article yet so I don't know if he's said anything else. I mean, the two word quotes that the Autosport article have attributed to him, e.g. "too wild" will have been filled out with more explanation. After all, quite a few people consider Sato and Massa to be human crash-test dummies

You've got to remember that many of Mika's "peers" have now left the sport: Irvine (a friend), Frentzen (who he got on very well with on a personal level), Villeneuve (somebody he'd known for years). It must be quite strange to watch the old guard going and the youngsters coming in. Mika was a youngster in F1 once - he knows all about being wild, being hyped and how easy it is to believe hype (see his comments on Button) and then take longer to deliver than expected. Mika learned that at the end of 1995 - and look at what he achieved after that. Maybe this is Mika's way of sending a warning to the new stars... don't think that wild ways and hype will win you titles.

[DriverT]

I agree with the vast majority of the article, especially the part about Williams. It sums up my view to a T.

[ljakse]

What is unexpected there?

[DriverT]

Unexpected = honest views unlike the robotic McLaren-speak you have heard from him in the past

[Led ZeppF1]

Well, generally I agree with his comments.
For instance, he think Montoya sometimes too careful in qualifying and cost his chance for pole.

http://www.autosport.com/f1racing.asp?fnid=101

But, I wonder, why Mika didn't mention Kimi mistake in qualifying. His comment,
only Kimi has the consistency, also debatable.

http://www.planet-f1.com/Home/story_14304.shtml

[climb]

Yes LedZ
At the end of the day he only spoke in the Macs contender's favour.

[climb]

Originally posted by ljakse
What is unexpected there?

Just the tone he used.
I mean, had this interview been to JV, or Eddie, well no surprise at all, but it's the first time for me to hear of this kind of attitude from Mika.

[garcon]

The BBC concentrates on what he had to say about Button:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/moto...ne/3464547.stm

All perfectly reasonable comments by a guy who seems to have stayed in touch. Although I think what he's really saying is that Button hasn't yet lived up to the hype, rather than he's simply not good enough.

And natural that he should have a little bias towards Kimi.

[OVERSTEER]

Well anytime Button was in a position to do well, his car lets him down for example, Malaysia 2002, Indianapolis 2003. Well one thing is true at least Button aint going off crying like a little kid when things go wrong!!

[EDIT:] Please keep to F1 and not personal insults about drivers or their families[/EDIT]

[ljakse]

Originally posted by climb
Just the tone he used.

Well, IMO, while he was driving for Macs he wasn't even allowed to talk much to the press about his personal opinion, and even when he was, it must have been in a way that Mac's PR school instructed him to.
And maybe it just happened that this was the first time since he left that somebody asked him something like this.

[oziengineer]

True, true, because Itv have a love affair with him. Can't agree with what mika says though. Jense ain't the best, but he shouldn't have slammed alonso, he is a true star, don't know about kimi.

[Tiptop]

I agree with Hakkinen totally, I believe that Jenson Button is overated admitted his car has let him down a few times when he could have been on the podium but I don't think he could challenge for the title. Alonso is a good driver but I don't think he is as good as Kimi or Montoya. I believe the next WDC will be Kimi who I think is the most consistent and focused driver after TGF.

[BootsOntheSide]

Being too careful in qualifying anbd starting 3rd isn't as bad as crashing and starting 20th, or being plain slow and starting 15th in a competitive car. Really, everyone except Montoya and Michael stuffed it up at least once last season. Kimi's raceday form was consistant though, and he did look every inch a future champion. Predicting which of the many young stars will win, and when, is not as easy task.

Jenson strikes me more as someone who can win races and extract the best out of a car, but there are doubts about his consistancy and temeprament. He curbed his lifestyle for 2002, which really helped, but perhaps he hasn't done anything truly extraordinary (other than qualifying 3rd at Spa 2000, but he blew that with his own mistake).

It is nice to see Mika emerge from his shell a bit. He was always seen as very quiet and predictable, and never gave the most interesting interviews. His opinions aren't especially surprising, but it's nice to hear them, because he clearly has some knowledge and understanding of current F1.

[DavidStHubbins]

I think Hakkinen's wife is hot...

[f1truestory]

i cant believe these words are from Mike, as i never heard him criticises people much. I would thought these words are come out from Irvine.

[f1truestory]

btw, Ivrine is under arrest. hahah

[f1manoz]

Rather frank and honest interview from Hakkinen. About bloody time as well.

Nothing in there that I would have to disagree with. Of course he's still going to stick up for McLaren and Kimi!

[Suzy]

Mika still has "connections" to McLaren and he and Kimi are close friends. He's hardly going to slag him and McLaren off to the press is he?

Anyway, the quotes are somewhat out of context. You need to read the rest of the remarks that accompany those "soundbites" that have been picked up on.

[darcym]

When I read the interview I was very interested and very confused by a lot of his comments.

His comments on Button being OverHyped and beliving his own press where justified in his first 2 years, but his last year at Renault and last year at BAR seemed to prove a fast consistant professional driver. I have certainly changed my view on button

Comments on Alonso are intersting, from all the young drivers Alonso intrigues me the most. The suggestion that if "alonso was the real deal" he would have out qualified Truli more often...I don't think so. While qualifying is an important feature of judging a driver its the overall package to that should be judged. Alonso's qualifying was pretty good, he claimed the youngest ever poll. I don't think Truli has ever sat on pole.Mika didn't out qualify Coulthard as much as Alonso out qualified Truli. Alonso was consistant in every race, and yes he made a few mistakes. I really think he showed real promise. Mika's comments on Massa are very clear to everyone to be true, over hyped, young messy, but quick. If Massa can survive in F1 until he is 30 he may be mature enough to be a good (I didn't say he wasn't quick) driver. Now for the part that genuinly does surprise me. Mika seems to be frank and airing his views (even if you disagree with them) yet his comments on Kimi are very strange, as they don't follow the rules by which he judged the others. He commented that button was in his 5th seasons, so there are no more excuses. Kimi is in his 4th season, so there should be no excuses for him. He commented that Alonsos qualifying was not consistant and that he made mistakes.....as did Kimi on numerous occasions. He commented on Button beliving his own hype... well not as well publicised but Kimi too (I think) has his air of "I'm great" about him (and rightly so). He talked about Montoya being over cautious and missing out on pole, I disagree a lot of people stuggled with 1 lap (your never going to be as fast on one lap as you where over the old 12 lap system). Montoyas style appears to suit the old 12 lap system, building up to optimal speed, that doesn't mean he was not as good as the one lap. A lot of drivers where cautious to get on row 1 and 2, rarther than mess it up and end at the back, this is a fault of the rules and the drivers making the most of their race weekend.

I really think Alonso/Button/Kimi are 3 stars on par with each other, all with flaws all with potential. Depending on the cars they get in the future they could well be the 3 closest drivers for a long time.

I think Mika's being a little biased here.

good interview though

PS F1truestory....never diss the swerve

[Ryo28]

I agree totally with Mika's views on Button. The British media are biased in favour of 'our jenson', and the ITV coverage reflects that. Had to laugh at Mika dismissing Sato and Massa as "far too wild" though - he must have forgotton who caused the multi car pile up on the first lap of the '94 German GP, and was banned for a race as a result!

[DavidStHubbins]

I think Hakkinen did out-qualify Coulthard MUCH more than Alonso-Trulli... An awful lot more.

Mika is not saying that they are bad people because they are wild, merely he is showing that wild does not mean success and that they must change like Mika did. That is the secret.

[Suzy]

Actually Ryo28 - he hasn't forgotten. That's why he's warned them that they are too wild. He KNOWS what it's like to be too wild: it causes accidents, you get banned from races, you get a dodgy reputation and it doesn't work in the long run. After 1995 Mika changed enormously, in his own words he "grew up suddenly" and he became a complete package.

Darcym wrote:
"His comments on Button being OverHyped and beliving his own press where justified in his first 2 years, but his last year at Renault and last year at BAR seemed to prove a fast consistant professional driver. I have certainly changed my view on button."

The full quote from Mika actually reads: "He made his F1 debut in 2000, for Williams, and straight away the British press started calling him 'the next Senna'. And I have to say that was ridiculous - how could they know? OK, it's not surprising that they get excited when a youngster like Jenson gets hired by a team like Williams. But the problems start when the youngster himself starts believing what they write. He was a beginner, not a superstar, and I'm not sure he understood that straight away. I think he understands it now, though, and it will be interesting to see how he copes with the pressure of being team leader at BAR. This season will be his fifth in F1, so there are no excuses any more." (I've highlighted the bit in bold).

Like I said, there are soundbites being picked out in the reports for impact and it's not giving the full story.

[Mr V]

If his most stinging comments are to say that Rafe is inconsistant (which is true) and that JPM looked slower than Rafe in quali's (when quali's didn't mean as much as seasons before) and at times was too careful. Then it's not exactly sensational stuff.

Mika, like everyone else is entitled to his opinion.