The Two Times Champion Leaves For Good.

By Parminio
August 12 2002

After a career that brought two World Titles to McLaren, Mika decided it was time to stay out of Formula 1 for good. It really came as no surprise to anyone, and the reasons for his leaving are simple.

Being a dad is a funny thing. Being an F1 driver on the other hand, is not. Mika has decided to stay out of F1 in favor of family life. It really came as no surprise to anyone, but a great many are still saying, "How could you give up an F1 career?" Well...being a father myself, (I have an 8 month old daughter) and given the events that Mika had been through, it's easy to explain. Mika has come closer to death than many ever will in their lives. The accident that nearly took his life was a bad one. It took him a great deal to come back from it, but at the time he was up to the challenge. He was single, young, strong headed...like all of us are when we are young. Things change though. You fall in love, you get married...then you start to worry about getting hurt. That's when you know it's time to get out. Then along comes Hugo. Let me tell you, only a parent knows how much a child changes the way you think. You become afraid of everything going wrong...of dissaster...a wild or uncanny incident. It's almost (and probably is) a phobia. So...with all of this in Mika's life, history nearly repeats an earlier incident. Mika crashes HARD due to a suspension failure. This on top of the terrible accident that Alex Zinardi had been involved in. Later, it's Bernoldi crashing so hard that it's a miracle he didn't suffer serious injury. Personally, I would NEVER have got back into the car. Mika did. He didn't want to, but he did. He had a contract and a job to do. With a fear of everything that he loved in his life being taken from him, he was very careful. You could see it. Do I blame him? No. Would I have done the same? No. I would have quit right there. I would have walked away and never looked back. Mika can do that now. His obligations to McLaren are fulfilled. He doesn't owe anyone anything. In fact, it's the opposite. We owe him everything. With that, here is a HUGE THANK YOU! Thanks for being Mika, thanks for the wins and hard racing, and most of all...thanks for showing us what being a champion is really all about. You're a class act Mika. God's speed.