Finland's Mika Hakkinen won two back-to-back world driver's championships in Formula 1 during the 1998 and 1999 seasons, respectively.
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Finland has produced a few notable Formula 1 drivers in recent years; the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas have been around the sport for a while now. Yet arguably the most popular Finn to step foot in the sport would be Mika Hakkinen.
The man dubbed ‘The Flying Finn’ was without a doubt one of the more popular drivers in the mid-1990s. His best showings came when he was part of McLaren, the team with which he won two world championships.
Hakkinen also has the distinction of being one of few men who outpaced a prime Michael Schumacher. What’s even more interesting is that while they shared an on-track rivalry, off it there was no animosity.
Schumacher would later admit that Hakkinen was the rival he respected most. Given the history of Schumacher’s rivalries, it says a lot about how likeable a character the Finn was.
Of course, he was also wildly successful. In an era where Schumacher was by some distance the quickest, Hakkinen beat him to a title quite memorably in 1998.
He might have done the same in 1999 were it not for Schumacher’s season being interrupted due to a fractured leg. Nevertheless, he did beat out Schumacher’s teammate Eddie Irvine to win his second – and final – championship.
With 22 years having passed since the day, let us look back at the 1999 season and how it panned out for Mika Hakkinen.
The 1998 world driver’s championship went down to the wire, with the title still up for grabs going into the final race at Japan. However, Hakkinen would win the race to clinch the title.
1999, however, brought with it the weight of new expectations. He was now a world champion and expected to be among the top drivers on a consistent basis.
To make things worse, there were issues in the beginning of the season. McLaren’s car, the MP4/14, suffered some issues and this resulted in a lack of testing.
However, Hakkinen remained confident in himself. “I’ve gained confidence and experience and am more relaxed. With this title I no longer have to tell myself every morning I can win, to put pressure on myself,” he stated ahead of the season.
As was the case in 1998, Schumacher and Ferrari were expected to be his biggest challengers.
If in 1998 Ferrari were slow out of the block, the exact opposite was true the following year. Three of the first four races were won by the Scuderia, with the season-opener at Australia notably being won by Eddie Irvine.
Hakkinen won in Brazil before Schumacher registered back-to-back wins at San Marino and Monaco. Hakkinen hit back with back-to-back wins of his own at Spain and Canada.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen surprised everyone by leading Jordan to a win at France; few knew it at the time, but this was the start of Jordan’s outside challenge for the title.
However, Ferrari suffered a massive setback at the British GP. Schumacher met with an accident and ended up fracturing his leg, ending his title hopes – and seemingly Ferrari’s too.
Except Ferrari were still in the hunt. Irvine, now the de facto number 1 in Schumacher’s absence, won back-to-back races of his own at Austria and Germany. The battle lines were now drawn.
Mika Hakkinen responded with a win at Hungary, but then went four races without a win. He did manage two podiums in that winless streak, but also finished fifth in the European GP and retired from the Italian GP.
As such, the title was very much in the balance. Besides Irvine and Ferrai, Frentzen and Jordan were also consistently up in the points, with the German even winning at Monza.
Irvine, meanwhile, would win the second last race at Malaysia thanks to a massive assist from Schumacher. The German made his return for the final two races in a bid to help the team.
Many were doubtful if Schumacher, who had no chance of winning the title, would be able to play the team game and assist Irvine. But he did.
Schumacher took pole at Sepang and led from start to finish, even claiming the fastest lap. But he pulled over and let Irvine take the win – and the 10 points that came with it.
By then, Frentzen’s world title bid had fizzled out. Heading into Japan, it was a straight shootout between Hakkinen and Irvine.
Schumacher took pole ahead of Hakkinen at Japan, leading to some hopes for Irvine who was in third. If Schumacher could hold off Hakkinen and let Irvine overtake the Finn, the title was in the bag – because Ferrari would have asked Schumacher to cede the lead and with it, bag the title.
However, a poor start from Schumacher saw Hakkinen get the jump on him. Schumacher would finish second behind Hakkinen with Irvine in third, giving ‘The Flying Finn’ his second straight championship.
