I warned Kimi to stick with McLaren -Mika Hakkinen

the desired pairing
By Natasha
June 4 2007

Mika Hakkinen, who won back to back titles with McLaren in1998 and 1999, told the Finnish newspaper 'Iltalehti' that he reservations about Kimi’s move to Ferrari and feared Raikkonen would struggle to adapt to the Ferrari environment. "I warned him that changing teams might not go well for him."

Former McLaren and Double world champion Mika Hakkinen says he told fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen to stick with McLaren rather than switch to Ferrari.

It was Mika Hakkinen sabbatical/retirement that brought Kimi Raikkonen to the McLaren team, with Mika informing Ron Dennis that the best replacement for him was Kimi, and that if he wanted to win, he had to get the Finn.

Mika, speaking about Kimi’s move to Ferrari said: "I warned him that changing teams might not go well for him."

He went on to say: "Unfortunately for Kimi, my forecasts are being fulfilled."

Hakkinen stuck Loyally with McLaren throughout the 1990s, which were difficult times, the departure of Senna from the team, the loss of Honda powered engines, the under powered Ford and Peugeot-powered engines, before finally getting back some stability with Mercedes.

Even throughout the difficult times, Mika stayed loyal and mentally strong, as he believed McLaren were the bets team to win the championship with.

But he said: "Winning the world championship is like a spider-web, which needs many threads, and time."
"Of course it is true that McLaren's recent past had some problems, but it is a team that has always had the capacity to recover."
"It is possible that Kimi has not measured the risks (of joining Ferrari) too well because it looks like being a difficult year for him."
"Also the McLaren car has evolved a lot in the past races, and winning titles can depend a lot on minor factors."
"In this game there are many excellent drivers, so Kimi cannot rely exclusively on his talent," Hakkinen said."