Revisited: The widely mocked Mika Hakkinen prediction which has now come true

Henry Valantine 06 Aug 2023 12:15 PM

Mika Hakkinen speaking into a microphone. Bahrain March 2022. — Mika Hakkinen speaking into a microphone at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Sakhir March 2022.

In the middle of June, when Mika Hakkinen predicted McLaren would be the team to “challenge Red Bull”, the general reaction to it was that of incredulity.

在的社会上发表他对他的前球队的报价al media, just a few of the hundreds of replies we received revolved around multiple inclusions of: “I’ll have what Mika’s having”, “Mika has quite a sense of humour” and even: “How much are McLaren paying him?”

But as it would turn out just a few weeks later, the two-time World Champion would be proven right, even if people were somewhat sceptical to begin with.

What did Mika Hakkinen predict about McLaren?

Before the Canadian Grand Prix in June, McLaren were sat on only 19 points after seven races – a dismal start to the season by their standards, with Lando Norris eventually falling out of the points and finishing a lap down in Spain after taking an unexpected P3 grid placing in qualifying, before first-lap contact with Lewis Hamilton.

With the team seriously struggling for form at that point, it came as something of a shock when the Finn made the prediction that his former employers would take the fight to Red Bull sooner rather than later.

“I don’t think anyone is able to catch up this year,” Hakkinen said toUnibet, referring to Red Bull’s dominant start to the season at that point.

“The only surprise I think we’ll see is McLaren’s possible progress during the next two months, I think they will surprise us massively.

“Just in terms of the speed of the car, they will probably challenge Red Bull.”

Mika Hakkinen thinks McLaren's progress 'during the next two months' could see them challenge Red Bull!#Hakkinen #McLaren #Formula1 #F1 pic.twitter.com/zQv2oTfVeW

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1)June 15, 2023

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How McLaren have proven Mika Hakkinen correct

After a raft of upgrades brought to the MCL60 at the Austrian and British Grands Prix respectively, the mass overhaul of the car’s concept at McLaren brought about an immediate performance increase that enabled Norris and Oscar Piastri to compete right at the front of the field.

With Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin having all fought over the ‘best of the rest’ moniker for much of the season, McLaren appeared to leapfrog all of them in one fell swoop, and continued to compete in both Hungary and Spa.

Following only 19 points in eight races (after subsequently finishing outside the points again in Montreal), McLaren have since taken 84 points in the four rounds that have followed – including two second-place finishes for Norris at Silverstone and Budapest respectively, and a top-three finish in the Belgian sprint for Piastri.

With a tough start to the year now behind them, the team now head into the summer shutdown buoyant about what may lie ahead.