Over the course of his career in Formula 1, Michael Schumacher had two great rivals. One of them is Fernando Alonso, but let’s be frank here; Mika Hakkinen is the racing driver who made Schumi realize that his talent and the technical know-how of Ferrari can be overshadowed.
Bon in 1968 in Finland, the Monte Carlo-based Finn entered Formula 1 in 1991. Keke Rosberg was his manager back then, the father of world champion Nico Rosberg. Fast-forward to 1998 and 1999, and those are the seasons Mika trumped Schumacher with his Mercedes-powered McLaren.
After two more seasons with the Woking-based team, Hakkinen called it quits, focusing on other things, including the German Touring Car Championship from 2005 to 2007. To this very day, the 49-year-old motorsport legend is an ambassador for McLaren.
This status enabled Mika to get behind the wheel of a McLaren F1 GTR at the Monterey Car Week, driving the 1995 Le Mans-winning racing car at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Even though he isn’t pushing the F1 GTR to the limits of grip, the sound of the BMW V12 is a delight to the ears.
More importantly, when was the last time you’ve seen a purpose-built racing car, homologated and everything, with a manual transmission instead of a sequential-type cog swapper? The most impressive thing about the F1 GTR, however, is that this particular example of the breed won against purpose-built prototypes at Le Mans, developed by manufacturers with bigger budgets than McLaren. Brawlers from Jaguar, Porsche, and Ferrari, to be more precise.
The F1 GTR was retired at the end of 2005, after two All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship events where chassis #25R failed to impress on both accounts. 28 examples were built in total, along with three F1 GT models, six F1 LM models, and 69 road-going cars.
Following the demise of the F1, McLaren got back in the game with the MP4-12C in 2011. And the rest, as they say, is history.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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