Hakkinen not convinced by Alonso

By role
February 9 2004

Former Formula 1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen has given his thoughts about each one of the teams to be present at the grid on the 2004 season.

On an interview with F1 Racing Magazine the Finn was outspoken about a number of teams and drivers. Among them Renault's Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli:

About Fernando, Hakkinen says:

"Whenever, over the past year, anyone has asked me to name the drivers of the future, I’ve always said, "Kimi and Fernando." And I still stand by that. But I don’t think Fernando is quite in Kimi’s class, to be honest. Don’t get me wrong: he’s very quick and very cool, and he’ll win plenty of grands prix. But I haven’t seen anything that really justifies the level of hype that has surrounded him so far."

"The area in which I’m not 100 per cent sure about him is his sheer speed." He adds. "He’s quick, but is he Kimi-quick? Is he Michael-quick? I’m not convinced. After all, he and Jarno tied eight-all in qualifying last year; if Fernando was really quick, he’d have done better than that. And there’s no doubt in my mind that the Renault R23 was a very, very good chassis, and that just might have flattered Fernando a bit. I guess time will tell."

About Trulli, Hakkinen also gives his thoughts:

"It’ll be Jarno’s third year with the team, and it’s time he got noticed. It’s strange: whenever I think of Jarno, I think, "What happened to Jarno?" And it’s a tough question, isn’t it? He’s been in Formula 1 since 1997, and yet he’s still never won a race or even looked like winning one."

"He’s almost Formula 1’s invisible man, isn’t he? And yet in karts he was brilliant." Hakkinen concludes. "So I’m not criticising him – I’m simply saying that I don’t understand why he hasn’t been able to translate his obvious talent into real results."