 Hakkinen Wary of Becoming Armchair Racer Monday October 15th, 2001 By Alan Baldwin
It could be an interesting time in the Hakkinen's Monaco household as he starts a year's 'sabbatical' from Formula One to spend more time with his wife Erja and baby son Hugo. The two-times champion admits he is heading into uncharted territory. "Maybe I'm going to stay at home three or four months and feel like I want to race like crazy," he said at the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. The 33-year-old Hakkinen was fourth in what might even prove to have been his final Formula One race. "Maybe I will be screaming for the rest of the year and you will see me at every Grand Prix and test and everything, (saying) 'I want to drive, I want to drive.' It can happen but it could go vice-versa. The door is open for 2003 so I'm happy and confident and comfortable with the situation." Hakkinen recalled the last time he had stayed at home and watched Grands Prix from the comfort of his own armchair. That happened when in 1993 he signed for McLaren but ended up as test driver backing up Brazilian Ayrton Senna and American Michael Andretti. The Finn eventually replaced the unhappy Andretti for the last three races of the season. Terrible Feeling "I had raced in '91 and in '93 suddenly I was a test driver and so I was watching some Grands Prix on television in Monaco and it was a terrible feeling," he recalled. "I didn't like it at all. Okay, there were some drivers who were doing a fantastic job and some drivers who made a lot of mistakes and that made me a bit angry. "I was feeling that it should be me sitting there and driving the car. But I doubt that it will be exactly like that next year." Team boss Ron Dennis, who has been almost a father figure to Hakkinen in the driver's nine seasons at the team, said the Finn would be missed. "There have been some pretty emotional moments," he said of their time together when asked about the memories that stood out. "His performance at Paul Ricard when he drove for the first time after his accident (in Adelaide in 1995). His joy at winning. "I think he's got a lot of personal discipline and he's worked hard at being a race winner. One of the greatest moments is actually the race at Indianapolis. You see drivers commit to either stopping or retiring or leaving teams and you see how their performance drops. "But I think that was one of his best races ever," he said of Hakkinen's win a few weeks ago. But Dennis also cautioned that once the 2002 season started, memories would be short. "It's a pretty intense business and by the time we start racing he'll be mentally in the background because we'll be focusing on the drivers we have in Melbourne," he said on Sunday evening. "We'll move on, concentrate on getting the job done."
Published at 10:25:38 GMT
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Mika Hakkinen was presented with a deck chair at Suzuka last weekend and the Finn will soon be enjoying it.
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