Mika Hakkinen is one of the fastest drivers in Formula 1 - in his first race for Marlboro Mclaren in 1993, he outqualified Ayrton Senna. He is also known for his frequent crashes. The cheerful Finn's racing ability and dogged optimism helped him hold the McLaren team together through their recent traumas, and to fight back after a near-fatal accident to take fifth place in the 1996 drivers' World Championship. This work is his full story. It includes an in-depth review of 1996 and the start of the 1997 season with expert analysis of the new McLaren chasis and Mercedes engine.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine book but not the definitive account we're waiting for,
By A Customer
This review is from: Mika Hakkinen: McLaten's Flying Finn (Heroes on Wheels) (Paperback)
Christopher Hilton's biography of Finnish racing driver Mika Hakkinen was written before Hakkinen won the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship at the wheel of his West McLaren Mercedes last year.Hilton opens his story with the final fateful moments leading up to Hakkinen's serious accident during qualifying for the 1995 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, and days later, Hakkinen's regaining consciousness in the intensive care ward of an Adelaide hospital. He then takes us back to the beginning, retracing Hakkinen's childhood and early racing career in Finland through to his inevitable move to Britain, his progress through the junior racing formulae and the break into the big-time with the now-defunct Lotus F1 team. The story ends towards the end of 1997 ‡ just, it can be argued, when it was getting REALLY interesting! Hilton's style is idiosyncratic, but readers who are happy to put up with his asides and personal touches will be rewarded with an empathetic, well-researched and ultimately authoritative work on the latest F1 World Champion. But despite Hilton's claims that Hakkinen remains one of the most accessible F1 racers of his time, this book lacks a certain something. Hakkinen certainly comes across as unaffected, accessible and supremely talented ‡ racing a car at breathtaking speed is, after all, only ìdoing what comes naturallyí, as Hilton's book is subtitled. But unlike biographies/autobiographies of previous world champions ‡ Alan Jones' collaboration with Keith Botsford, ìDriving Ambitioní, or Botsford's collaboration with Keke Rosberg, ìKekeí spring to mind immediately ‡ one leaves Hilton's book with a little sense of knowing the man. Even one of Hilton's own previous efforts, Ayrton Senna ‡ The Hard Edge of Genius, gave a far greater insight into its subject. Perhaps that was an indication of Senna himself; he was known to be a man given to deeper thoughts than many of his contemporaries and rivals. Work may be underway even now on a book by Hakkinen's own hand. But for his fans, and they are legion, for the time being at least this book is about the best there is. Hilton has done a fair job, and shown impressive prescience in selecting Hakkinen as a candidate for a biography. It needs to be updated, to take account of the 1998 championship-winning season. Hilton's book will sell well and satisfy the inevitable post-championship demand for information on the man of the moment. But it's not the definitive essay on Hakkinen that his fans, and fans of motorsport generally, are waiting for.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting read 3 years on,
By David Coultard (London, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mika Hakkinen: McLaten's Flying Finn (Heroes on Wheels) (Paperback)
Now that Mika has one the World Drivers Championship (twice), this makes an interesting read.Although seemingly distant, and lacking interest in his chosen sport, this book highlights the talents that Mika clearly has in order to achieve his dream. With help from his boss, Ron Dennis, Hilton highlights how Dennis and Hakkinen spent many long hours coupled together, penetrating each other's heads and, ultimately, getting the best out of each other. The book's title expresses this in concise terms. While illustration is sparse, it spares us the pointless "page filling" of many lesser books, and gets to the point. A great read for any fan of Mika, and McLaren.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The BEST of Mika Hakkinen's book now!,
By dannyktf@hkstar.com (HKSAR, China) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mika Hakkinen: McLaten's Flying Finn (Heroes on Wheels) (Paperback)
This book contain all of Mika's! From his karting days to F-1, FANTASTIC~~ Quick buy, before he is going to be the World Champion!
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