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Hakkinen finds Verstappen world title 'impossible' due to Perez' flop
Mika Hakkinen knows a thing or two about what it is like to become world champion, since the Finn did it himself in 1998 and 1999, and as such he also knows first hand how important it is to have a helpful teammate, which Max Verstappen did not have in 2024, since Sergio Perez was nowhere to be found at the front to take points off the Dutchman's rivals. This makes Vestappen's feat even more commendable.
In the late 90's when Hakkinen won the F1 World Championship twice he had David Coulthard as a teammate at McLaren. "I was very fortunate to win a World Championship and thanks to you, David, twice. You know, twice and thanks to David and the great teamwork that we did [together]," the former Formula One driver told the F1 Talks programme of Viaplay. Coulthard was also present there as a presenter.
"There's no way the driver can win races, win a championship, unless you have a strong team, you have a strong teammate," Hakkinen continued. The former double world champion finds it remarkable that Verstappen managed to clinch the 2024 drivers' title given Perez' performances. "How Max is able to do that kind of result when his teammate, yeah, Sergio Perez, is not able to give any-- I don't want to say any kind of support, but we all know, and I think everybody's been talking about it whole year about his performance. And I think that has been definitely super disappointing, his performance."
Perez wanted to stay despite having lost "the edge"?
Despite the lack of positive results, time and again Perez stated he had no intention of leaving Red Bull. Nevertheless after the season finale in Abu Dhabi, the Austrian racing team and the Mexican driver agreed to part ways prior to the 2025 season start, promoting young racing ace, Liam Lawson, to Red Bull Racing, and rookie Isack Hadjar, another Red Bull junior talent, to partner Yuki Tsunoda at Racing Bulls.
"I retired quite early in my career because I felt like, 'oh, I start losing a little bit edge.' I decided that's it I better give space for the young drivers and Sergio keeps, still my opinion, kept saying that way 'yes I can do it,'" concludes Hakkinen.
This article was written in collaboration with Corwin Kunst.
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