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Mika Pauli Häkkinen (; born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "''the Flying Finn''", is a retired Finnish professional racing driver. He is the 1998 and 1999 Formula One World Champion, driving for McLaren and has been ranked among the greatest Formula One drivers in various motorsport polls.〔 Häkkinen currently works in driver management and is a brand ambassador for various companies. Häkkinen began his career in karting at the age of five and achieved success by winning regional and national kart championships. He progressed to car racing when he entered the Formula Ford and Formula Three series in Italy and the United Kingdom. After success in the series, Häkkinen entered Formula One in 1991 with the Team Lotus where he remained until 1992. The following year, he moved to McLaren as test driver before he was promoted to the race team following the departure of Michael Andretti. After four years which yielded minor success for Häkkinen, he clinched his first Formula One victory in 1997. He went on to win eight races of the 1998 season, securing the World Drivers' Championship at the season ending Japanese Grand Prix; his success also helped McLaren secure the World Constructors' Championship. Häkkinen repeated his World Championship success in 1999, taking five victories. He finished as runner-up in the Drivers' Championship in 2000, behind Michael Schumacher and secured two more victories in 2001 before announcing a sabbatical from the sport, which became full-time retirement in mid-2002. For 2005, he moved to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) series, where he secured his first victory that year. Häkkinen's form faded during 2006 although he secured two more victories in 2007. Häkkinen retired from top level active motorsport at the end of 2007 and has also competed in sports car racing with Mercedes-Benz. He also subsequently moved into driver management along with becoming a brand ambassador for Johnnie Walker and Mercedes-Benz AMG. ==Early life and career== Häkkinen was born in Helsingin maalaiskunta (now ''Vantaa''), Finland on 28 September 1968 to Harri, a shortwave radio operator and a part-time taxi driver, and Aila Häkkinen, who worked as a secretary. Häkkinen grew up with one sister, Nina, who ran a fan site for her brother until its closure in 1998. As a child, Häkkinen lived in the same street as Mika Salo with the two later becoming friends. As a child, Häkkinen played ice hockey and football. When Häkkinen was five years old, his parents rented a go-kart for him to take to a track near their home. On his first lap, Häkkinen was involved in an accident but he escaped unhurt. Despite this crash, Häkkinen wished to continue racing and after persistently annoying his parents, the young Finn got his wish fulfilled. His father bought Häkkinen his first go-kart, one that Henri Toivonen had previously competed with. He later won his first karting race in 1975 at the Keimola Motor Stadium where he raced in the regional karting championships in 1978 and 1979, clinching the Keimola Club Championship in both years. Häkkinen found further success in 1980 when he clinched the Swedish Lapland Cup and finished fourth in the 85cc class of the Lapland Karting Championship. Around this time, Häkkinen also drove a Volkswagen Beetle on the frozen lakes of Finland with friend Mika Sohlberg. In 1981, Häkkinen driving for the Blue Rose karting team won his first major karting title, the 85cc class of the Finnish Karting Championship. The following year, he finished the runner-up in the 85cc class of the Formula Mini series and later won the Ronnie Peterson Memorial event and the Salpauselka Cup in Lahti. Häkkinen moved to the Formula Nordic 100cc class for 1983, where he clinched the championship on his first attempt and also participated in the A Junior Team Races for Finland alongside Taru Rinne, Jaane Nyman and Marko Mankonen, with the line-up taking the championship. For 1984, Häkkinen clinched the 100cc Formula Nordic title and later participated in the World Kart Championship race held in Liedolsheim. Häkkinen took his second consecutive 100cc Formula Nordic Championship in 1985 ahead of Jukka Savolainen. He later took part in the Nordic Championship A-Class in that same year, finishing runner-up to Tom Kristensen. Häkkinen went to Parma to participate in the World Kart Championship where he retired before the event's final heat due to a mechanical problem. In 1986, he clinched his third consecutive Formula Nordic 100cc title and also took part in karting events across Europe.〔 To further fund his career, Häkkinen got a job with a friend repairing bicycles. In 1987, Häkkinen made the transition from karting to car racing when he purchased an 1986 Reynard Formula Ford 1600 from fellow countryman JJ Lehto. In that year, he entered the Finnish, Swedish and Nordic Formula Ford Championships, winning each title on his first attempt and won nine races combined. Häkkinen also entered two races of the EDFA 1600 Championship and raced in the Formula Ford Festival held at Brands Hatch, where he finished in seventh position. In 1988, Häkkinen entered the EFDA Formula GM Lotus Euroseries with the Dragon team, where he secured four victories and finished the runner-up in the championship, behind Allan McNish. He later entered the Opel-Lotus EDFA Euroseries, taking four victories and clinched the championship with 126 points, ahead of nearest rival Henrik Larsen.〔 Going into 1989, Häkkinen moved from the Euroseries into the British Formula 3 Championship driving a Reynard 893 chassis for Dragon. He only managed to secure seventh position in the championship, scoring 18 points. He was later invited to participate in the Cellnet Formula Three SuperPrix for West Surrey Racing as a guest driver where he secured pole position and clinched victory.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/mika-hakkinen/ )〕 He also raced in the tenth round of the French Formula 3 championship at Le Mans-Bugatti on September 24 and finished third behind Éric Hélary and Laurent Daumet. In 1990, Häkkinen applied to become a member of the "''Marlboro World Championship Team''" through what was akin to a fully sponsored racing driver academy. Its members were short-listed for testing by a judging panel including McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis (whose team was sponsored by Marlboro), F1 World Champion James Hunt, and Formula 3000 team bosses, Mike Earle and Hugues de Chauna. In an April 2015 interview, Earle recounted that Häkkinen's application was the last application he reviewed at the end of a particularly long day ended at 7pm, despite protests by fellow reviewer James Hunt who had already made plans to head to a pub for a beer. Häkkinen aced his test and went on to secure Marlboro's sponsorship. That same year, therefore, Häkkinen left Dragon and moved to the West Surrey Racing team and won the British Formula 3 series, by taking nine victories en route to the Championship, with 121 points, ahead of fellow countryman Salo. In November, Häkkinen entered the Macau Grand Prix where he clinched pole position and won the first heat of the event. He retired from the second heat due to a last-lap collision with German Formula Three driver and future F1 rival Michael Schumacher, who was classified as the overall winner.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mika Häkkinen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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