On 29 April 2001, Mika Hakkinen retired from the lead of Formulation 1’s Spanish Grand Prix on the final lap.
The 2-time world champion was having a tricky time in what would transpire to be his final season in F1. Hakkinen crashed out of the Australian GP attributable to a suspension failure when working second, completed a lowly sixth in a mixed-weather Sepang race and stalled on the Interlagos grid attributable to a technical difficulty; he then took solely fourth in Imola after dropping behind Jordan’s Jarno Trulli from the entrance row of the grid.
4 rounds into the season, Hakkinen had simply 4 factors to his identify, with McLaren team-mate David Coulthard and Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher on 26.
Hakkinen certified on the entrance row once more at Barcelona, with Schumacher grabbing pole by 0.085s, and the race was a typical tactical battle amid tough overtaking in these days.
Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F2001, Mika Hakkinen, McLaren MP4/16 Mercedes, Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari F2001
Photograph by: LAT Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
Hakkinen twice tried to overcut Schumacher, stopping 4 laps later on the finish of the primary stint, then seven laps later on the finish of the second stint; solely then did he emerge again in entrance, turning a 4.8s deficit on lap 42 right into a 3.6s benefit on lap 51.
“I had a really unhealthy vibration and I assumed perhaps the tyre was delaminating,” Schumacher defined. “So I slowed down, particularly down the straight, as I used to be apprehensive a few blowout. We even talked about making a 3rd pitstop. Then the vibration didn’t get any worse and I realised it was secure to go on.”
Coming into the final lap, Hakkinen was all however sure to win, with Schumacher 43 seconds down. However that was when his MP4-16 suffered a clutch failure; Hakkinen slowed down early into the lap and coasted till the uphill run to Campsa nook, the place he stopped in a plume of smoke.
Mika Häkkinen, McLaren MP4-16 Mercedes
Photograph by: Charles Coates / LAT Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
“I assumed, ‘Wow, I’ll win for the fourth time in Barcelona. If that occurs it is unbelievable’,” Hakkinen stated. This is able to even have been his fourth consecutive victory on the Catalan observe, which has solely ever been achieved by Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – with the German’s feat courtesy of this very last-lap failure.
“Then on the final lap I stated, ‘Okay, now I perceive, it might’t be this good to be true’. It appears like there was some downside with the clutch, there was nothing that I might do to attempt to save the state of affairs. I attempted to make some changes within the automotive to attempt to scale back the issues that I used to be experiencing. However it did not make any distinction.”
Hakkinen hitchhiked again to the pitlane on team-mate Coulthard’s automotive, with Schumacher embracing the Finn to supply his sympathy.
“I’ve to say I really feel very sorry for Mika,” Schumacher commiserated. “I used to be shocked after I noticed he had retired. This isn’t the way in which I wish to win, nevertheless it has occurred to me prior to now and these items occur in racing.”
Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, Mika Hakkinen, McLaren
Photograph by: Pascal Rondeau – ALLSPORT – Getty Pictures
Hakkinen gained simply one of many subsequent 9 races, and McLaren introduced on 14 September fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen would change him for 2002, with the veteran formally taking a sabbatical – which, opposite to in style perception, he became an precise retirement from F1 in July 2002.
Following the announcement, Hakkinen bowed out of F1 in fashion, clinching one remaining grand prix victory in Indianapolis.
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