On this day: Mika Hakkinen’s last-lap heartbreak

On 29 April 2001, Mika Hakkinen retired from the lead of Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix on the very last lap.

The two-time world champion was having a tough time in what would transpire to be his last season in F1. Hakkinen crashed out of the Australian GP due to a suspension failure when running second, finished a lowly sixth in a mixed-weather Sepang race and stalled on the Interlagos grid due to a technical issue; he then took only fourth in Imola after dropping behind Jordan’s Jarno Trulli from the front row of the grid.

Four rounds into the season, Hakkinen had just four points to his name, with McLaren team-mate David Coulthard and Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher on 26.

Hakkinen qualified on the front row again at Barcelona, with Schumacher grabbing pole by 0.085s, and the race was a typical tactical battle amid difficult overtaking in those days.

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F2001, Mika Hakkinen, McLaren MP4/16 Mercedes, Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari F2001

Photo by: LAT Images via Getty Images

Hakkinen twice attempted to overcut Schumacher, stopping four laps later at the end of the first stint, then seven laps later at the end of the second stint; only then did he emerge back in front, turning a 4.8s deficit on lap 42 into a 3.6s advantage on lap 51.

“I had a very bad vibration and I thought maybe the tyre was delaminating,” Schumacher explained. “So I slowed down, especially down the straight, as I was worried about a blowout. We even talked about making a third pitstop. Then the vibration did not get any worse and I realised it was safe to go on.”

Coming into the last lap, Hakkinen was all but certain to win, with Schumacher 43 seconds down. But that was when his MP4-16 suffered a clutch failure; Hakkinen slowed down early into the lap and coasted until the uphill run to Campsa corner, where he stopped in a plume of smoke.

Mika Häkkinen, McLaren MP4-16 Mercedes

Photo by: Charles Coates / LAT Images via Getty Images

“I thought, ‘Wow, I'm going to win for the fourth time in Barcelona. If that happens it's incredible’," Hakkinen said. This would even have been his fourth consecutive victory at the Catalan track, which has only ever been achieved by Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – with the German’s feat courtesy of this very last-lap failure.

“Then on the last lap I said, ‘Okay, now I understand, it can't be this good to be true’. It looks like there was some problem with the clutch, there was nothing that I could do to try to save the situation. I tried to make some adjustments in the car to try to reduce the problems that I was experiencing. But it didn't make any difference.”

Hakkinen hitchhiked back to the pitlane on team-mate Coulthard’s car, with Schumacher embracing the Finn to offer his sympathy. 

“I have to say I feel very sorry for Mika,” Schumacher commiserated. “I was shocked when I saw he had retired. This is not the way I like to win, but it has happened to me in the past and these things happen in racing.”

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, Mika Hakkinen, McLaren

Photo by: Pascal Rondeau - ALLSPORT - Getty Images

Hakkinen won just one of the next nine races, and McLaren announced on 14 September fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen would replace him for 2002, with the veteran officially taking a sabbatical – which, contrary to popular belief, he turned into an actual retirement from F1 in July 2002.

Following the announcement, Hakkinen bowed out of F1 in style, clinching one final grand prix victory in Indianapolis.