November 2025 marks 30 years since Mika Häkkinen’s huge crash during Friday qualifying at the F1 Australian GP in Adelaide.
The Finn had a rear tyre failure heading into turn 10. His car got airborne and spat him into the tyres at over 100mph as he entered the fastest corner on the circuit. Trackside medics had to perform an emergency tracheotomy to save the now 57-year-old.
Following a number of weeks in hospital in Adelaide, the Finnish driver returned to Europe in early December of 1995.
Steve Hallam on an impressive qualifying run by Mika Häkkinen in the 1995 F1 season and the time it took for the Finnish star to get back to his best
Following the switch from Peugeot to Mercedes engines, McLaren had a difficult 1995 season. They were a distant P4 in the Constructors’ Championship. Benetton, Williams and Ferrari won all the races between them that year.
Steve Hallam, who worked closely with Mika Häkkinen throughout his time at McLaren, spoke to Pit Debrief in an exclusive interview about how good the Finn was in the 1995 F1 season before his Adelaide accident.
Despite not having the equipment to fight for the top 3 on pure pace in qualifying, the 26-time polesitter put in 3rd on the grid twice in 1995.
“So Mika was one of those drivers, and it was fairly early in his career. He drove basically to the limit of the car that the car would allow, which is why suddenly in the ’95 car he did produce a couple of impressive qualifying performances.
“We were never on pole but in qualifying, principally thanks to Mika, he flattered the car at times.”
Following that crash in Australia, Steve Hallam believes Mika Häkkinen did not return to his best until the latter stages of the 1996 F1 season. The Flying Finn did not get his first podium post-Adelaide until Silverstone, with three more coming to make it 4 from the last 7 rounds.
“No one liked to see a driver hurt, and no one liked to see a driver struggling for your team.
“He was badly hurt. Fortunately, he recovered, and in all honesty, it probably took him majority of ’96 to get back to where he left off at the beginning of the Adelaide Grand Prix weekend in ’95.
“He might dispute that, but it felt like it was a longer period of recovery, and certainly to put him back to where he would want to be.”
Steve Hallam recalls Mika Häkkinen’s return to a F1 cockpit in a private test at Paul Ricard in early 1996
87 days on from that scary accident in Adelaide, Mika Häkkinen returned to F1 machinery in a private test in the MP4/10 at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.
Steve Hallam was part of a very select few of people to be there with the Finn that day. McLaren wanted to see if he was able and ready to drive again. With the top management staying away and no journalists around, it was the perfect environment for Häkkinen to test himself physically and mentally.
“I remember going to Paul Ricard at the beginning of ’96, Tyler Alexander and myself took a car down there, and we had the circuit exclusively for the day. The instruction was to see if Mika wanted to drive, and he joined us in Paul Ricard, having driven up from Monaco.
“We basically put the car at his disposal. He could do short runs, long runs, whatever. We had a little bit of structure if he just didn’t know.
“We wanted to know, and it’s important for a Grand Prix driver, that they have to want to drive. You don’t want to be forcing them to drive, and they don’t need to think that you’re forcing them to drive. So it was only Tyler and myself.
“So there was no, if you like, management pressure looking on. It was people he knew and had worked with on a daily basis.
“There was no journalists, no Ron [Dennis], no Martin [Whitmarsh]. It was very quiet and calm.”
A happy Mika Häkkinen after his first F1 test post-Adelaide and lapping faster than Michael Schumacher
Following his move from Benetton to Ferrari, Michael Schumacher had been testing the previous day as he got up to speed with the Italian squad. Häkkinen was up in the next one and lapped faster than the German. It proved he had put Adelaide behind him.
Steve Hallam revealed that the two-time F1 World Champion and 20-time race winner was a very happy man after the running was complete. The British engineer spoke to McLaren boss Ron Dennis about it.
“Ferrari had been testing the day before with [Michael] Schumacher, and it was the previous year’s car. So it was just, ‘go out and see if you like, still like doing it. If you don’t, it’s okay. If you do, that’s great.’
“And obviously, I don’t know what fuel level or what tyres Schumacher was on the day before, but at the end of the day, Mika was quicker than Schumacher’s time of the day before.
“He enjoyed it, and he was smiling, and when I spoke to Ron that evening, that’s really all I could tell him, he was still quick, he was happy, and he enjoyed it.
“The rest was between Mika and Ron as to what they did then. He [ultimately] carried on driving for us, which was great.”
Mika Häkkinen went on to take his first F1 win at Jerez in 1997. He would get his two Drivers’ World Championship titles in 1998 and 1999. A special story ended in 2001 as he retired from the sport.
