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Happy birthday MIKA HÄKKINEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (28/09/1968) 💙⚡

“You can only get over your fears if you attack them head on”.

Mika Pauli Häkkinen was born in Vantaa, a city not far from Helsinki, in an humble family: his father, Harri, was a short-wave radio operator and a part-time taxi driver, meanwhile his mother Aila, was a secretary. He also has a sister called Nina. Since a young age, Mika was a very lively and athletic child and used to play ice hockey and football. It was at the age of 5, that his parents rented a go-kart for him to take and try on a track near their home. However, his first experience on four wheels didn't go so well: little Mika crashed, but thankfully he was uninjured; despite his accident, the young boy wanted to keep racing, so his father decided to buy him a second-hand go-kart, which turned out to be the one that, future rally driver, Henri Toivonen, previously raced with. Young Mika would earn his first karting win in 1975, and in the late 70s would go and win the Keimola Club Championship for two consecutive years. Yet his major success would come in 1981, when he won in the 85cc class of the Finnish Karting Championship, the following year he would win the Ronnie Peterson Memorial event. In 1983, he moved up to the Formula Nordic 100cc that he ended up winning on his first attempt, and would later go and win it in the three following years. In the mean time, to fund his career, Mika got a job with a friend repearing bicycles.

After purchasing his first racing car, in 1987, Mika would take a big step and leave karting to start racing in the Finnish, Swedish and Nordic Formula Ford Championships, that surprisingly, he'll win each one on his first attempt. After joining the British Formula 3, where he finished 7th in the championship, in 1990, the young Finn applied to become a 'Marlboro World Championship team' memeber, his application was the last to be reviewed by the judging panel (which included Ron Dennis and James Hunt) and after looking at his strong results in testing, he secured the membership; that very same year, he also became the British Formula 3 Champion. The following year, he was offered his first Formula 1 test session with Benetton: he really liked the car and its steering wheel and throttle response, but he was sure that the team wouldn't offer him the seat, so he preferred to sign with the Lotus team.

Mika made his debut at the US GP driving for Lotus, however his debut would be quite unpleasent, since he was forced to retire from the race due to an engine failure. But overall, his first year would be quite positive, collecting various points and ending up 16th in the World Championship; his second year in the team would be even more positive, since he finished 8th in the Championship with 11 points. Following a contract dispute, in which the young driver was in the middle of, at the end of the year he managed to sign for McLaren. Initially meant to be the new McLaren driver, he would end up 'on the bench' as the official test driver, due to the hiring of Michael Andretti. Yet, Andretti didn't last much in the team, and at the Portuguese GP, Mika would replace the American for the rest of the season. The Finn immediately showed his worth by outqualyfing Ayrton Senna and at his only second GP for the team, he would end up on podium at Suzuka, with an amazing 3rd place. These good performances lead him to earn his McLaren seat in 1994, that despite the bad start of the season and a ban for three races, he managed to collect a good amount of points and finished 4th overall. Always with McLaren, the 1995 season started with a good fourth place, but unfourtunately continued with a lot of consecutive retirements; but Mika's, already unfortunate, season ended in the worst way possible: during the qualyfing session at the Australian GP, his car suffered a tyre failure, and the car ended up hitting sideways a crash barrier. His conditions were highly critical, but it's thanks to the efforts of the trackside medical team, that his life was saved that day. Transported to the hospital nearby, Mika would spend there two whole months, where he was able to make his remarkable recovery. The Finn's come back to F1 was in time with the start of the new season, feeling stronger than ever, he wanted to start winning, he would have to wait almost one season where at the European GP, the last of the 1997 season, he would score his firts victory in his career, almost forseeing the bright future ahead. Driving the new silver McLaren MP4/13, Mika completely demoralised the competition by finishing on podium every race, except for five, and scoring 8 victories, leading Mika to claim the much coveted World Championship. The following season had the same good ending as the previous one: Mika became champion for the second consecutive year, despite various retirements, the Finn scored enough points to see him prevail on the competition. The Finnish driver almost won his third championship in 2000, but unfortunately Michael Schumacher, with a gap of 19 points, claimed the title. The 2001 season was off a bad start, and continued to be quite unsuccessful, due to the unreliability of the McLaren, this unsatisfaction lead Mika to retire at the end of the season, stating that he would take a sabbatical year from F1, to spend time with his family. (Where are you Mika? We're still waiting for you to come back from the sabbaical).

After his retirment he remained close to the world of motorsport and became a commentator for various tv channels and despite his retirement, he took part, and still does, in various motorsport events, like it happened earlier this year at the Race of Champions.

Nicknamed the 'Flying Finn', like many other Finnish racing drivers before him, he got his nickname, not only for his speed, but after a photo of his McLaren 'flying' mid air as he speeds on the Adelaide circuit was taken, and published by the note motorsport photographer Mark Sutton.

Mika's and Michael's iconic rivalry excited many in the 90s, especially for their different driving styles and personalities clashing against each other: Michael's firey personality reflected his more aggressive, lively and impulsive driving style, meanwhile Mika's cold and detached personality reflected his precise, calculated, neat driving style. But their 'loyal rivalry', actually dates back to their time in the British formula 3, where, at a young age, they were already having heated battles on track.

Michael always stated that Mika was the only driver he really respected and had fun racing against.

#hyvää syntymäpäivää rakas mika!!!!!!!!!!!! 💙💙💞💞#mika will always have a special place in my heart mainly because he's the one that got me into the world of the 'classic' f1 #absolutely one of my favourite drivers #and one that I'll always admire!#💙💞💖#mika häkkinen #mika hakkinen #classic f1 #f1 #formula 1 #retro f1 #f1 1990s #f1 2000s #f1_bdays

Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Scuderia Toro Rosso gets ready in the pits during the Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix Practice at the Hungaroring on August 3, 2007, in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)