It happened and happened in Jerez in 1997.
Harri Syrjänen once toured the F1 races diligently. Elle Laitila
Top chef Harri Syrjänen recalls his funny experiences behind the scenes of the formula world Pipe shelf–in the most recent episode of the podcast.
In his memories, Syrjänen returns to the events of the final competition of the 1997 season. The race in Jerez, Spain is memorable for Finns, because Mika Häkkinen took the long and eagerly awaited opening victory of his F1 career.
However, the biggest talking point of the competition was the red-hot world championship by Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher between. The twist that continued throughout the year culminated in a memorable way when Schumacher deliberately collided with the Canadian Williams while trying to secure the championship for himself.
However, Schumacher himself had to interrupt. It opened up a chance for Häkkinen to win.
The alliance between Villeneuve’s Williams team and McLaren against Schumacher and Ferrari, who played a dirty game in places, was a publicly known secret. When Schumacher was out of the game, the teams arranged the final result in a way they both liked.
Häkkinen got his first victory, Villeneuve his world championship.
Syrjänen says in the podcast that some members of his travel party were aware of this agreement.
– They had information that if at the end of the race Villeneuve is leading and Häkkinen is second, then Villeneuve will finish ahead of Häkkan. And so it happened. The guys won a lot of money, says Syrjänen Pipe shelfon the podcast.
Mika Häkkinen listening to the Maamme song together with David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve. ZumaWire / MVPHOTOS
After the race, the joy of the Finns was therefore at its peak for good reason. Syrjänen and his entourage ended up at McLaren’s wild end-of-season party on Sunday evening.
– We didn’t have accommodation, but we still went to the party. Somehow it happened that I slept in the bed of Häkkinen’s manager, who was an Italian. It was sleeping in the fetal position on the couch. It tried to wake up, but I told it to “go away now”, Syrjänen laughs.
Häkkinen’s manager was Keke Rosbergbut Syrjänen hardly dared to use his bed. It was probably Rosberg’s right hand From Didier Cotonwho is Belgian though.
In the podcast, Syrjänen also says that he was close to ending up as the chef of McLaren’s F1 team.
