Re-visiting mystic Mika’s bold McLAREN prediction
After correctly predicting we’d challenge Red Bull in 2023, what does Mika Häkkinen think is next for the team?
Reading time: 9.7 minutes
Back in June, following a disappointing Canadian Grand Prix result, we sat sixth in the standings with just 17 points. So, when Mika Häkkinen suggested that we would be challenging Red Bull by the season’s end, it raised a few eyebrows.
“The only surprise I think we’ll see is McLaren’s possible progress during the next two months,” he said. "I think they will surprise us massively. Just in terms of the speed of the car, they will probably challenge Red Bull.”
Few believed him, and many even mocked the Finn for his supposedly outlandish suggestion, but six months on, it appears he knew something many others didn’t.
And that’s because he did.
Mika had spent time with Team Principal Andrea Stella and the team at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, witnessing not just how hard they were working, but also how smartly. He’d seen the progress of the upgrades, and although he had no way of knowing how they’d perform, he always left the factory with a lot of confidence in the people and the efforts being undertaken.
He could see where it was leading and wasn’t afraid to put his reputation on the line by making such a bold prediction.
“From spending time at the factory with different departments,” said Mika when asked where the prediction came from. “Talking with different people in the factory, seeing their motivation and how confident they were – they knew what they were talking about. And every department felt like a team.
“You could tell that they had done their homework and calculations, which made me confident. You need team spirit, and you need confidence in the team's leaders, and that is what is going on. There is a direction, and that is an important motivating factor. The mechanics, engineers, marketing, media, everybody at the track and factory is working super hard. The teamwork is a mega success.”
Mika’s comments came following the Canadian Grand Prix, in which we had failed to score any points. At that moment in time, we’d only finished in the top 10 in three of the eight rounds, with a best finish of sixth.
A highly anticipated and much-needed upgrade was on its way, but no one, other than Mika, had dared predict it would see us regularly challenging for podiums.
The team’s shift to a new car concept in late 2022 meant that the early issues with the McLaren MCL60 had been foreseen, but the upgrade wasn’t expected to be that transformative. It had been estimated that the upgrade would lift us into the midfield battle and give us a fighting chance, with a view to potentially scoring a podium later in the season following the delivery of a second package.
Lando was the first to receive the upgrade, one round early in Austria, and he instantly scored our best result of the season, qualifying and finishing in fourth. Oscar received the package ahead of the next round at Silverstone, and both drivers surprised the paddock by qualifying in the top three in front of our home crowd.
Lando converted this into the team’s first podium – his first on home soil - while Oscar narrowly missed out on the podium to Lewis Hamilton, partly due to an unfortunately-timed Safety Car.
Suddenly, mystic Mika’s prediction didn’t seem quite so unbelievable.
A turnaround no one saw coming
“The management of the McLaren team has done an incredible job,” Mika continues. “The team has looked at long-term success and long-term planning, and they have asked what they needed to do in this moment to get there. That requires a very calculated approach from the management to understand how to get into this position.
“It’s about the people and the investment in different areas of the team to get into this great situation with the car's development. And, of course, the team has two great drivers, there is no question about that. There is very positive competition inside the team with the two young drivers.
“A great compliment has to go to Zak Brown, the management team, and everybody else at McLaren. Teams want to win yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but achieving this kind of result requires a lot of discipline and patience. There is great communication in the team, and everybody understands what direction the team is going in.”
From Silverstone onwards, points and podiums became a regular feature of our season. Lando took seven overall and even came close to a victory in the British and Singapore Grands Prix.
“I have seen the bad days as well as the good days, so when I am walking around the factory after all these years, I can sense that everybody has a positive drive”
Mika Häkkinen
1998 & 1999 Formula 1 World Champion
Oscar, meanwhile, won the F1 Sprint in Qatar and claimed his first two podiums of the season in Japan and Qatar, becoming the first rookie to score multiple podiums in their first season since Lewis Hamilton, with McLaren in 2007.
Having spent time in our garage at races and in the factory in Woking, Mika has gotten to know Lando and Oscar well and says he’s been impressed by what he’s seen from them both on track and off it.
“The drivers have done a mega job, no question about it”, he continues. “They are consistently fast and hungry for success. They can see the team generating a better car every time they go out onto the track, and they’re motivated, and they want to win. There’s a very healthy competition between these two younger drivers, who are both under pressure from the team and vice-versa, which is good.
“The consistency from the drivers is making it easier for the engineers because they can collect the data from both drivers, and that can give them the direction to develop the car in a way that can help Lando and Oscar to perform.”
Mika experienced a similar turnaround of form in his McLaren career, albeit not quite as dramatic or in as short a time frame as our comeback in 2023. The Finn joined in 1993 and spent eight full seasons racing with the team.
Mika had to wait until the final race of 1997 to claim his first McLaren win after the team went three years without a victory and finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship in each of his first four seasons.
However, our fortunes were transformed in the 1998 campaign, as Mika led McLaren to a Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship double, winning eight races in 16 rounds. Although these are two very different eras, there are clear parallels to be drawn between Mika’s time with the team and this current iteration.
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“It's getting very close,” Mika says when asked whether he can see a victory in McLaren’s future. “When I was racing at McLaren, we were in difficult situations many times. Some of the grands prix were so frustrating, the car wasn't working at all. My teammate and I were complaining like there was no tomorrow, so I have experienced that.
“I have seen the bad days as well as the good days, so when I am walking around the factory after all these years, I can sense that everybody has a positive drive. It's getting very close, but I think both the drivers and the team know they need more.
“They must keep developing and finding the right solutions for the car to be quicker. You have to put a huge amount of effort into generating the car for next year. You can't put too much effort and money into developing this year's car. But I feel that the victory is getting very close. I don't want to use the word luck, but you need that sometimes. It's a part of this world, you have to believe in luck a little bit, but it can happen.”
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