My Formula 1 Blog

  Hi, this week I'm introducing Mika Hakkinen Mika Pauli Häkkinen (born 28 September 1968), nicknamed "The Flying Finn", is a Finnish former racing driver. He won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1998 and 1999, both times driving for McLaren. Häkkinen is one of three Formula One drivers from Finland that have won the World Drivers' Championship, and the only one to have done so more than once. He currently works in driver management and is a brand ambassador for various companies. Early life and career Häkkinen was born in Helsingin maalaiskunta, Finland, on 28 September 1968 to Harri, a shortwave radio operator and a part-time taxi driver, and Aila Häkkinen, who worked as a secretary. He has one sister, Nina, who ran a fan site for her brother until its closure in 1998. Häkkinen lived in the same street as Mika Salo with the two later becoming friends. As a child, Häkkinen played ice hockey and football. When Häkkinen was five years old, his parents...

  Hi, this week I'm introducing James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in 1976. After retiring from racing in 1979, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman. Early life Hunt was born in Belmont, Surrey, the second child of Wallis Glynn Gunthorpe Hunt (1922–2001), a stockbroker, and Susan (Sue) Noel Wentworth (née Davis) Hunt. He had an elder sister, Sally, three younger brothers, Peter, Timothy and David, and one younger sister, Georgina. Wallis Hunt was descended on his mother's side from the industrialist and politician Sir William Jackson, 1st Baronet. Hunt's family lived in a flat in Cheam, Surrey, moved to Sutton when he was 11 and then to a larger home in Belmont. He attended Westerleigh Preparatory School, St Leonards-on-Sea Sussex and later Wellington College. Hunt first learned to drive on a tractor on a farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales, while on a family holiday, ...

  Hi, this week I'm introducing Bernie Ecclestone Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns Delta Topco, the previous ultimate parent company of the Formula One Group. As such, he was commonly described in journalism as the 'F1 Supremo'. Early life Ecclestone was born in St Peter, South Elmham on 28 October 1930, a hamlet three miles south of Bungay, Suffolk. He was the son of Sidney Ecclestone, a fisherman, whose family had moved from Kent in the early 20th century to work in Norwich's painting industry, and his wife Bertha. Ecclestone attended primary school in Wissett in Suffolk before the family moved to Danson Road, Bexleyheath, southeast London, in 1938. He was not evacuated to the countryside during the Second World War and remained with his family. Ecclestone left ...

  Hi, this week I'm introducing John Surtees John Surtees, CBE (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. On his way to become a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion, he won his first title in 1956, and followed with three consecutive doubles between 1958 and 1960, winning six World Championships in both the 500 and 350cc classes. Surtees then made the move to the pinnacle of Motorsport, the Formula 1 World Championship, and in 1964 made motor racing history by becoming the F1 World Champion. To this day Surtees remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels. He founded the Surtees Racing Organisation team that competed as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula 5000 from 1970 to 1978. He was also the ambassador of the Racing Steps Foundation. Motorcycle racing career Surtees was the son of a south-London motorcycle dealer. His father Jack Surtees was an accomp...