Is this the sun set of Mika's Career? Well no one knows that yet. Not even Mika himself. He said he doesnt know whether he will come back into Formula One after his year long sabbatical in 2002. He hopes to get his motivation back till the start of the 2003 season. This is analogous to what past champions Alain Prost and Niki Lauda did, who both came back to Formula One after a year's break to be crowned world champions. It would be a bold decision to make if Hakkinen plans to retire for good since it would mean an end to his first passion which he has nurtured right from his childhood. Many speculations are surrounding as to what are the possibilities regarding his return. Mclaren team principal Ron Dennis has already stated that Mika is very much with them in 2002 and would be closely associated with getting Kimi Raikkonen familiar with Mclaren-Mercedes in the season. This means that Mika will closely follow the developments at the Mclaren camp. He would scrutinize the MP-17 engine which would be unveiled for 2002 and its performance. If he feels the rush to get back into the cockpit, he would surely find it difficult to restrain himself and retire.
His return, if definite, could have interesting outcomes. Where will he fit himself? Surely he would love to associate with Mclaren, where he won his two World titles. Mclaren already has categorically stated that Hakkinen, Raikkonen, Coulthard and Alexander Wurz are under long-term contracts. Furthermore, Ron Dennis' hinting at hiring Nick Heidfeld, who has tested for Mclaren in the past, adds to the confusion. All this makes Mika's return to Mclaren a but dicy. Maybe we could see Kimi Raikkonen be the test driver for 2003 till Coulthard finishes his contract to unleash an all Finnish lineup for 2004. This is just one of the possibilities. Many more exist and as we know from last season, driver swapping is no big deal in Formula One. It may also happen that one of the current driver leaves the team according to performance. Yet more interesting are the rumours that Mercedes itself may have a team of their own in the future and that puts an end to all above inconsistencies of driver lineups.
Regardless of all the speculations with his return, one thing is for certain that no one except Mika can bring him back to F1. All speculations can take material effect only if Mika decides to return to Formula One, not otherwise. Hence it will be a long wait to find out the truth behind all this and specially for Mika's fans who will dearly miss their flying finn and be deprived of his famous explosive starts and blistering qualifying performances.
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