Hakkinen shares interesting behind-the-scenes story about Michael Schumacher's racing attitude

The battle between McLaren and Ferrari in the late 1990s, specifically between Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen, captivated Formula 1 fans for years, with Hakkinen managing to get the better of the German driver in 1998 and 1999.

However, in that latter year, the two-time world champion was forced to abandon his title hopes due to a severe crash at Silverstone that took him out of contention in favour of his teammate Eddie Irvine.

Schumacher finally got his revenge in 2000 at Suzuka, winning the first of five titles he would later claim with Ferrari through 2004, forming one of the most dominant pairings still remembered today.

However, despite their on-track rivalry, Hakkinen has always expressed great admiration for the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver, and he didn’t miss the chance to reaffirm this in an interview on the Drive to Wynn podcast.

“It was fantastic,” Hakkinen said. “It’s all about constantly learning, constantly asking questions, constantly challenging people. I was never a teammate for Michael Schumacher, but it would have been fascinating''.

Hakkinen finally admitted that he was impressed by his rival’s driving style: ''I was very calmly just looking, low, medium, high-speed corners, at his technique of driving. It was fascinating to look at this and to learn something from that.”