Hakkinen praises current F1 drivers: 'Better generation than the last'

It is typically a question asked by journalists: 'Who is better, Max Verstappen or Ayrton Senna? Lewis Hamilton or Michael Schumacher?' Mika Hakkinen, a two-time Formula 1 world champion, has also had to answer who is still the best driver of all time many times.

Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport also put it to the Finn once again. He compares the current generation of drivers to his own time in Formula 1. Then Hakkinen says: "Every generation is better than the previous one in some way. What today's F1 demands from really young drivers is incredibly intensive, both technically and psychologically, as well as while driving. You have more tools at your disposal than in the past, and you have to be enormously consistent."

Hakkinen successful thanks in part to Newey

The now 54-year-old Hakkinen became world champion in 1998 and 1999, during the era of Schumacher dominance. However, with his McLaren, he was twice the superior of the German. In part, this was due to his Adrian Newey-designed car. As we know, Newey is the mastermind behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez's Red Bull.

"I know Adrian Newey well, and with his cars, I won my two world titles. Every time there are technical changes, he comes up with a winning project, and he finds solutions for the new rules. After 2022, it was not hard to predict that Red Bull would repeat the trick, but when I saw the first tests in Bahrain, I understood that they would be super fast," the Finn said.