Two-time Method 1 champion Mika Hakkinen has opened up about working alongside David Coulthard at McLaren, explaining {that a} shared perception within the Woking outfit’s future success prevented on-track collisions from affecting their working relationship.
Coulthard and Hakkinen mirrored on their lengthy stint as McLaren team-mates, which resulted in two drivers’ titles for the Finnish driver and a constructors’ championship for the group, in the course of the Up To Pace podcast.
Whereas Coulthard talked about their notorious Austrian Grand Prix collision in 1999 for instance of the occasional friction between them, Hakkinen put it right down to being a standard a part of life as team-mates.
Hakkinen had began from pole place with Coulthard in second and Ferrari’s Eddie Irvine in third. However Coulthard tapped Hakkinen on the first nook and despatched his team-mate right into a spin. The Scotsman later apologised and confirmed he misjudged the nook.
Coulthard led nearly all of the race, however Irvine in the end took the win. Coulthard completed second and Hakkinen made a formidable restoration from being despatched to the again of the sector by the spin to complete third.
“It is a part of motor racing. It is a part of being team-mates. It is completely regular. However for some purpose, we each knew that there’s a future, and there is a future through which we are able to succeed collectively,” Hakkinen defined.
“We are able to do great things for the group, so there is no such thing as a level in carrying that anger for 2 or three months in your head. Let’s type it out, and let’s transfer on and let’s return to racing.
Podium: race winner Mika Hakkinen, second place David Coulthard
Picture by: McLaren
“Sure, we acquired some assist from the administration of the group. But it surely was OK and, such as you talked about, if you touched me [at the Austrian Grand Prix], it was solely somewhat bit. You did not break my automobile, and also you did not break your automobile. So we had been in a position to proceed.”
Coulthard associated their dynamic at McLaren to the outfit’s present driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
“In case you have a look at the fashionable drivers, I assume the closest instance to us as team-mates may very well be what we noticed with Lando and Oscar,” the previous driver defined. “There have been a couple of instances final 12 months once they virtually touched.
“There have been a couple of instances when the group had been attempting to handle the drivers’ expectations.”
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