McLaren Star®
International
Presents:
COULTHARD TALKS ABOUT MIKA HAKKINEN
David Coulthard
and Mika Hakkinen have been teammates since 1996, and DC feels Mika is
the best driver currently in Formula One, despite Michael Schumacher winning
the World Championship in 2000. He said, "I think Mika is an exceptional
driver and if I was a team owner I would employ him over Michael. When
you expect Mika to be under the most pressure he can handle it very well,
and that is his way of going racing. He closes himself off from other distractions."
"The reason Michael gets more credit is because he is
hard, aggressive and hungry in all conditions to perform at a consistent
level, race to race and year to year."
"But I think there is every suggestion that Mika is quicker
over one lap. Michael is harder in a race situation, because there is more
evidence of racing than Mika. But running in front, Mika is brilliant."
David Coulthard also spoke about how he feels having
Mika Hakkinen as his teammate is the idea situation, in his attempts to
become the first Scottish World Champion since Jackie Stewart.
"Mika
is one of the quickest guys in Formula 1 and there is nothing quite like
a team-mate doing a faster lap time to motivate you. It means you cannot
say the car would not go any quicker because it is obvious that the package
would.", Coulthard Said. "We've been together for five years now, I don't
like him being faster than me any more than he likes me being faster than
him and that has led to a very strong situation between us. I've worked
so hard to improve my form and pace that if I didn't have that challenge
it would feel kind of hollow in a way because I have had to fight for it."
Mika and David have been teammates since 1996 now but
1997 was the only season in which David finished ahead of the Flying Finn
in the championship standings. He won't be finishing ahead of Mika this
season, but next season promises maybe to be very different.