Berger reveals he was behind Hakkinen test

[davewilson]

By Jonathan Noble Friday, December 29th 2006, 09:37 GMT


Gerhard Berger has revealed to autosport.com that he was the one who got Mika Hakkinen interested in getting back behind the wheel of a Formula One car.

And, claims the Scuderia Toro Rosso co-owner, he was especially overjoyed that McLaren boss Ron Dennis was the one who paid for the former world champion's eventual testing return.

Speaking about the circumstances surrounding Hakkinen's return to the F1 cockpit earlier this year, Berger says that he egged on the Finn to abandon DTM and consider a comeback to Grand Prix racing.

"Let's put it this way, I had some discussions with him and asked why he was mucking around in the DTM and not doing a proper job again," Berger told autosport.com.

"I rate him as an extremely competitive guy, and so we started to talk and discuss if it was the right thing for him to stay in the DTM. I told him that if he was going to the gym and training hard then he might as well get in a proper car! That was how it all started."

Hakkinen's interest was fuelled so much that after a visit to the Brazilian Grand Prix to see Michael Schumacher's final race, he talked to McLaren about a role with them. After several runs in the team's simulator, he tested at Barcelona in November.

Berger said he was so thankful that he did not have to pay out for a Hakkinen test - and instead was very grateful to Dennis for letting it happen.

"Ron picked up on Hakkinen's desire and offered him a car," said Berger, with a big grin on his face. "So we achieved what we set out to achieve. Mika got a drive at the cost of Ron, and that made me smile a bit! It worked out quite well.

"If I convinced him to drive a car, then it would have cost me. But at the same time Ron ran him, so the problem was fixed."

Berger believes that Hakkinen's slow pace in the test was not really indicative of what he is capable of.

"I looked at the lap times and gathered he was not into serious testing. I believe that if he gets serious about it, then I think he would be very close to proper lap times. But not at this stage."

Berger also confirms that they did once talk about a possible F1 racing comeback, but the discussions did not go anywhere.

"I think Mika still is a competitive guy and he knows how to race and how to win," said the Austrian. "He and I had a discussion about it once."


The Stig