Hakkinen and Coulthard: an internal rivalry without tensions

The McLaren Home Teammates

In the history of Formula 1, there have been (and still are) numerous internal rivalries between teammates, some of which have become legendary. Just think of the one between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in the late ’80s at McLaren, the same team where, in the following decade, Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard shared the garage. Two drivers who, even in that case, contributed to the world championship successes of the Woking-based team, but without creating major tensions.

Going beyond a contact

A rivalry that always remained healthy, even more so in a top team, recalled by the Scot on the Up to Speed podcast, with the former driver referring to the contact that occurred between the two at the 1999 Austrian Grand Prix. An episode that had no consequences, as confirmed by Hakkinen: “It’s part of racing. It’s part of being teammates. It’s absolutely normal. But for some reason, we both knew there was a future, a future where we could succeed together – explained the two-time world champion Finn – we can do great things for the team, so it makes no sense to hold grudges for two or three months. We settle the matter, move on, and get back to racing. Yes, we received support from management. But everything went well, and as you said, when you touched me at the Austrian Grand Prix, it was just a small contact. You didn’t break my car, and you didn’t break yours. So we managed to move on.”

A fact that Coulthard associated with others that have occurred in recent years, one of which, curiously, right at McLaren: “If we look at modern drivers, I think the example most similar to what we saw as teammates is what we saw with Norris and Piastri – he commented – last year there were several occasions when they almost made contact. There were several times when the team tried to manage the drivers’ expectations.”

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