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[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

By Glenn Freeman Saturday, November 3rd 2007, 13:28 GMT

Mika Hakkinen has decided to retire from racing in the DTM, the Finn announced on Saturday.

The former Formula One world champion has competed in the series for the past three years with Mercedes, scoring a total of three victories in that time.

"It's time for me to stop racing in the DTM," Hakkinen said at the Mercedes-Benz 'Stars & Cars' event in Stuttgart. "That's the bad news.

"The good news is for the other competitors, they can have some peace on the track now."

Hakkinen added that while he was retiring from racing, he will remain involved with Mercedes in some form.

"It's been great racing in the DTM," he said. "I won't stop doing things with Mercedes though. We will announce something soon."

A sad day for motor racing. Hakkinen is truly a great.

[texasmr2]

He could be making a F1 comeback in some sort of form or fasion !?

[McLaren Fan]

He could be making a F1 comeback in some sort of form or fasion !?

Driving, no. I would like to see take some role at McLaren-Mercedes. I think he would be good for the team and the sport to see somebody of his calibre still involved with matters.

[cap-dude]

He will probaly be like Micheal is with Ferrari now.

can't say he never had a good run at F1 anyway. Great guy, enjoy the peace.

Hes been at the McLaren garage a few times this year. He was there at Brazil this year which i thought was pretty cool

[Ron Dennis]

Hakkers will the the official advisor to the McLaren drivers on how to cry behind a bush.

[7UpJordan]

He could be making a F1 comeback in some sort of form or fasion !?

He did a test last year in an MP/4-21 and was pretty much miles off the pace. It's sad but I expect he'll still be heavily involved with McLaren and Mercedes.

[onelapdown]

I remember being at Silverstone for his penultimate F1 win in 2001 - he was mighty that day and I'm glad I saw it. I think he's the only driver after Senna died to really challenge Shumacher at his peak for pace, and he came off best a few times. And he's a pretty decent bloke too.

[McLaren Fan]

I remember being at Silverstone for his penultimate F1 win in 2001 - he was mighty that day and I'm glad I saw it. I think he's the only driver after Senna died to really challenge Shumacher at his peak for pace, and he came off best a few times. And he's a pretty decent bloke too.

I think he was faster than Schumacher, however, he didn't have the luxury of building his own team and had to drive some beastly cars for a lot of years. I feared that his talent may come to nothing. Thankfully, it did not.

[McLaren Fan]

He could be making a F1 comeback in some sort of form or fasion !?

He did a test last year in an MP/4-21 and was pretty much miles off the pace It's sad but I expect he'll still be heavily involved with McLaren and Mercedes.

Probably because the cars have changed so much since he was last driving them and he changed his adjusted his style slightly for touring cars.

[bud]

He wont come back to F1 to race, no way. He tested the MP4 21 and was way off the pace last year.

hope he has some form of duty with McLaren though be good to have him around the paddock like people have already said.

[manbearpig]

He could be making a F1 comeback in some sort of form or fasion !?

Driving, no. I would like to see take some role at McLaren-Mercedes. .

Like a replacement for RD ? Just a crazy thought .

[/list]

[darwin dali]

Now THAT's an idea. MH running the show at McLaren - got my vote.

[Woodchip]

Is it possible that MH will assist in the development of TC free F1 cars at McLaren like MS is at Ferrari?

[manbearpig]

Is it possible that MH will assist in the development of TC free F1 cars at McLaren like MS is at Ferrari?

I'm sure that's possible , but I would think a move into management is more likely . Not nessecarily replacing RD hough , but something of the sort .

[onelapdown]

Is it possible that MH will assist in the development of TC free F1 cars at McLaren like MS is at Ferrari?

I'm sure that's possible , but I would think a move into management is more likely . Not nessecarily replacing RD hough , but something of the sort .

I think Mika might play the role Gil de Ferran occupied at Honda until recently, although Mika would probably be better at it. But I said "might". There's no reason why he shouldn't just retire in Finland with Erja and little Hugo (incidentally, how on-message is it to name your kid after one of your team's sponsors?!)

Here's a little clip from when he retired from F1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwPBWOT6vC0