Mika Hakkinen and seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher shared an intense rivalry during their peak years in F1.
Schumacher is arguably one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. He won two World Titles with Benetton, and then went on to win five more with Scuderia Ferrari. Throughout his career, he has shared intense rivalries and on-track battles with some huge legends of the sport.
Hakkinen was probably one of his biggest rivals. The Finn started their rivalry off by winning two back to back Championships in 1998 and 1999, before Schumacher started an era of dominance. In spite of those battles, the respect between them always stood strong.
This was why fans were absolutely shocked when they saw that Hakkinen had publicly bashed the German. This was in reference to Schumacher’s return to F1 in 2010 despite announcing his retirement in 2006.
Schumacher came back to the sport, to help the Mercedes team find their feet in F1. He teamed up with Nico Rosberg and stayed until 2012.
Mika Hakkinen called Michael Schumacher a ‘tragic ex-hero’
Fans were very surprised to see Hakkinen bash his former rival publicly. Many refused to believe that it was the Finn who was behind writing that article, and they were right.
“In my view, he is dismantling his own legacy bit by bit,” the column read. He also labeled Schumacher as being ‘too arrogant.’
Hakkinen himself did not say any of those things. Instead, it was an editor of the newspaper which published this column, who acted without the Finnish legend’s authority or permission.
Soon, the newspaper team released a statement that said that the former McLaren driver did not say those things. “The statements attributed to Mr. Hakkinen, particularly in relation to Michael Schumacher, were not true,” they revealed.
“And were not authorized. We regret this and apologize to our readers, to Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher, and as a consequence we are no longer working with the staff member concerned.”
