It was 48 milliseconds
That was the time that Mika Hakkinen took from Ayrton Senna in the first grand prix in which the Finn was a teammate of the Brazilian legend after replacing Andretti at McLaren.
The bicampeón tells the story:
"In qualifying in Estoril, I was faster than Senna and he came to me and asked me how I had achieved it. I remember telling him, I guess I have more balls than you. Right there, he started talking to me about his career, his titles. Our relationship was not the best, I suppose he saw me as a threat to his image as the best driver in the world. I never intended to create a conflict, it was my first years and I had a legend by my side, it was a privilege to be his teammate."
That was the GP of Portugal in 1993
In the race, both retired and in the following two races, the São Paulo driver finished ahead of Mika, by a very small margin in Japan, by seven tenths in Australia, a race that Ayrton also won.
The following year came
Senna lost his life and Hakkinen kept racing until winning the world titles of 1998 and 1999 before the golden era of Michael Schumacher arrived with his five consecutive titles with Ferrari.
On this 29th, four years have passed since the terrible skiing accident of the Kaiser
And his great rival wanted to pay him tribute with words that contradict the official version of two greats in the history of this sport.
"There were many very good drivers with dedication, discipline, and sacrifice. Ayrton was one of the best. But I would give the number one spot to my great rival Michael Schumacher," says Mika. Beautiful words for the driver who has won the most titles and grand prix in the history of this sport.