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McLaren Won’t Preclude Hakkinen Return
Written by: Kevin Krefting   
11/15/2006
London, UK
 
Mika Hakkinen's appearance in a McLaren at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed may have been a harbinger of a more significant comeback. (LAT photo) ยป More Photos

With McLaren-Mercedes still having not confirmed as expected that GP2 champ Lewis Hamilton would be its second driver next year alongside new signing Ferando Alonso, rumors have circulated that Mika Hakkinen could make a comeback with the team for which he won ack-to-back World Championship titles in 1998 and '99. McLaren refused to rule out such a possibility, admitting earlier this week that the 38-year-old Finn had recently spent time in its race simulator.

"Mika has been in the simulator, and following his visit to Brazil (last month) wished to understand if he could contribute to our program," said McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh. "We currently have no plans to run Mika alongside Alonso next year. The identity of our second
driver will be announced in due course."

Hakkinen retired from Formula 1 at the end of 2001 and has been racing for Mercedes in the DTM German touring car series. He was in Brazil as a guest of Mercedes to watch old Ferrari rival Michael Schumacher bow out in the final race of the championship.

Alonso is set to join McLaren from Renault at the end of the year, but McLaren as been in no rush to name his teammate after Kimi Raikkonen announced at Monza that he would be leaving for Ferrari. Hamilton, 21, is a front runner, while 35-year-old Pedro de la Rosa still has hopes to be part of an all-Spanish lineup after moving up from being a test driver to replace Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya as a race stand-in for the team this year.