McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen admitted there was some truth to last month’s rumours that he wanted to retire.
McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen admitted there was some truth to last month’s rumours that he wanted to retire.
The double world champion said he was feeling a little demoralised after so many race retirements this season. Rumours started circulating that he was planning to hang up his gloves at the end of the season. But things changed after his victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last month.
“I think every Grand Prix driver, every year, thinks about retirement. F1 is racing, which is much more losing than winning, and so it comes to the point when you think to yourself, ‘I’ve had enough of travelling and driving these things’,” he told the BBC.
“It happens. It’s happened to me and it’s happened to a lot of other drivers. It’s a normal thing, but still you look to the future and still you continue.”
But the Finn would not say when he is going to retire. “That’s extremely difficult to say,” he said. “Certainly being in this business gives you such a great boost. There is nothing like winning having pushed your mind and body to the limit. So when I do retire, finding a job which can relate, or is very similar, to grand prix racing is going to be very difficult.”
Hakkinen said he was currently negotiating a new deal with McLaren for next year.