Why one F1 legend’s daughter doesn’t like to bring him to many races

Ella Hakkinen, McLaren junior and daughter of double Formula 1 world champion Mike Hakkinen, has explained why she doesn’t bring her father to many races.

The 15-year-old made her single-seater debut earlier this year with Jenzer in the Formula 4 Central European Championship and currently sits 14th in the standings.

Ella Hakkinen joined McLaren’s driver development programme last November and has been tipped for big things by her father Mika, who won the F1 world title with the Woking-based outfit in 1998 and 1999.

Speaking in a new BBC interview, Ella Hakkinen says her father is able to offer lots of useful advice, but prefers to leave him at home because “he’s really emotional”.

“He’s very helpful,” she said.

“He obviously knows the mindset and the mentality. But I mostly go to the races without my dad.

“It’s just a better environment without him, because he’s really emotional and stuff like that.

“But he’s a very good at giving you advice, and he understands because he also drove.

“And he has good understand of the calm before the race, what you have to do before the race, what you need to do after the race to recover or something like that.

“So, it’s good to have a dad who did the same sport.”

Ella Hakkinen has grown up surrounded by reminders of her father’s achievements.

In the same interview, she revealed how he has used videos of his own racing exploits to provide tips for her driving.

“Obviously, I’ve seen photos, he has also shown us some videos from the past, as a comparison, like, ‘This is what you have to do, this is how you should take the lines’,” he added.

“So, I’ve seen a bit of those, a lot of photos; it’s all around the house, anyway.”

Mika Hakkinen made his F1 debut in 1991 with Team Lotus, before moving to McLaren for the final rounds of the 1993 season.

He remained with the team for the rest of his F1 career, scoring a maiden win in 1997, before claiming the world title back-to-back over the next two seasons.

Hakkinen was runner-up in 2000 and fifth in 2001, before taking a sabbatical from F1 that ultimately heralded the end of his career.

He returned to racing in 2005 for three seasons in the DTM.