The 1998 and 1999 FIA Formula One World Champion Mika Hakkinen congratulated Ferrari junior and Haas F1 driver Mick Schumacher for his best career finish in the Austrian Grand Prix, as Mick finished in sixth place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. After the race, the former Finnish driver went to the Haas pits to personally congratulate the son of Michael Schumacher, his historic rival.
Mika Hakkinen later shared his thoughts on the situation that Mick Schumacher is experiencing in Formula 1 for being Michael’s son:
“I was really happy to see Mick Schumacher drive another strong race for Haas and finish 6th, two places ahead of his experienced team mate Kevin Magnussen. Mick gets a lot of attention because of his father’s reputation, and that brings pressure with it. However he is a very calm, mature young guy – still only 23 – and he is clearly gaining confidence in himself and his car. Last season was his first in F1, a year to learn during which Haas did not have a competitive car. This year we can see that the team has made good progress with the new car and regulations, so the chance is there for Mick to really show his capability.” – Mika Hakkinen worte in his usual pos-race column for Unibet.
The two-time Formula 1 world champion also commented on the performance of Red Bull and Scuderia Ferrari in the Austrian Grand Prix last Sunday. Carlos Sainz, winner of the previous Silverstone Grand Prix, looked confident of catching up and overtaking Max Verstappen in the later stages of the race, but his engine failed, leading to a spectacular fire that caused significant damage to the rear of the Ferrari. Max Verstappen finished the race in 2nd place, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished 3rd and 4th respectively.
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“Ferrari beat Red Bull in a straight fight this weekend and that will give them a lot of confidence at this mid-point of the season,” said Mika Hakkinen. “Ferrari have worked hard to find the straight line speed they need to compete against Red Bull, but at the weekend we also saw that they had better tyre performance on a circuit which normally suits the Red Bulls.”“Tyre performance is so critical in F1 and very much depends on the type of circuit, whether it places the emphasis on front or rear grip and the balance between them. The track in Austria tends to make rear tyre wear more critical than the front, and this favoured Ferrari. Carlos’s engine failure shows that Ferrari still have work to do on reliability and I am sure they must know where the problems lie. Charles cannot afford to have those kinds of failures if he is to close the gap to Max. In fact he needs Max to have a non-finish if the points gap in the World Championship is to really close down.” – Mika Hakkinen concluded.
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