Mika Hakkinen declares: ‘I was a little bit better’ than Michael Schumacher

Mika Hakkinen believes he was “a little bit better” than his “incredible” former rival, Michael Schumacher.

Reflecting on a notorious Macau collision during their Formula 3 days, Hakkinen said the pair developed a no-nonsense approach on track—something he feels earned Schumacher’s respect and set their rivalry apart from the German’s more fiery F1 battles.

Mika Hakkinen reflects on Michael Schumacher rivalry

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It was Schumacher who ended Hakkinen’s reign as F1 World Champion after back-to-back title wins for the Finn in 1998 and 1999.

Iconic rivals in the world of Formula 1, Schumacher struck back to return Ferrari to the F1 summit in 2000.

That marked the start of five consecutive title wins for the German, who retired as a seven-time World Champion, and the most successful driver in F1 history at the time.

Hakkinen reflects on his former rival as an “incredible racing driver”, though, in true racer fashion, insists he had the edge.

Speaking about Schumacher on the High Performance podcast, Hakkinen said: “I followed him many times, studying his lines, why he’s doing this, where he’s using steering, understanding all of this, but it was nothing too special, in my opinion.

“I think I was a little better.”

Breaking out into a smile and laughter, Hakkinen was asked to clarify that he did regard himself as better than Schumacher.

Retaining the smile, Hakkinen confirmed: “Oh absolutely, of course!

“But he was physically very strong with the car. Physically very strong how he was able to use the tyres, tyres and the suspension, the loading a car, using just physical power to drive the car.

“And then his talent included, and how he was thinking, how the balance in a car. The car control what he had was amazing.”

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Schumacher branded Hakkinen as as “the best opponent” that he ever had; rivals on the track, but 100 per cent respect off of it.

For Hakkinen, their relationship was unique when compared with Schumacher’s other title rivals, in part because they agreed early on: “Let’s fight on the track. Let’s leave the bullsh*t out of this.”

Of course, the duo had their “moments”, as Hakkinen put it, the Finn reflecting on their 1990 Macau Grand Prix collision as a glaring example.

Asked if Schumacher ever tried to play mind games with him over a grand prix weekend, Hakkinen replied: “He tried, but it doesn’t work. No, it just doesn’t work. It doesn’t make no difference really.

“I think he tried a lot of different ways, and this and that, and maybe it was little bit his sense of humour. But it didn’t matter to me.

“I was so confident with the McLaren team and with my management, with myself, he’s not going to change anything. That’s why, when we put the crash helmet on, then we stopped talking.

“Let’s say it this way, we had our moments in motor racing.

“When I had a crash with him in Macau, for example, with Formula 3 in 1990. I won the first heat, he was second. There were two heats, and those two heats are calculated, and [the] overall time is the winner of [the] total race.

“So I won the first heat. Michael was behind me, couple of seconds. He got the second heat. He got the lead. I was behind him, inside in a couple seconds. So I know I’m going to win. Lets follow him all the way to the end.

“And Macau is an unbelievable race track. It’s like seven kilometres, street track, and racing with the F3 car.

“So, last lap, he just made an incredibly silly mistake in one high-speed corner, which gives me the opportunity to just easily overtake him. So easily I come in behind him and planning to overtake, and he looks in the mirror and turns a little bit his steering. I touch his rear tyre, and I’m off.

“So I could go absolutely bananas and berserk about that, but I thought, what is going to change? It’s not going to change nothing.

“Michael was a very hard racing driver. I think he had quite a few problems with many other drivers, with Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, David Coulthard. He was a very hard racer. Sometimes not fair.

“And every time there was a huge discussion after, and this and that, I thought, ‘I’ve got to change this guy. I’ve got to change his philosophy, his mentality, how he’s racing’. It doesn’t matter how I talk to his management, his team, or for the media, for anybody, it’s not going to change nothing. I just focus on my own job, and I think that’s where a lot of respect came that way.

“We didn’t start verbally fighting, publicly blaming each other. We thought, let’s fight on a track. Let’s leave the bullsh*t out of this. I think that those were the things, a little bit maybe what influenced his attitude towards me.

“And after the Macau incident, of course, I understood that way what kind of philosophy he has in his racing. So, every time when we raced, we played little tricks, but we didn’t touch.”

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