Mika Hakkinen, who watched his World Championship hopes hit by a Ferrari one-two at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, has admitted he is becoming edgy about his title prospects.
"I have to admit I am nervous about the situation at the moment," he said. "We're having mechanical problems just a little bit too often this year. We are in a situation where the team is going to have to work hard to understand the problem and then figure out what to do."
Michael Schumacher, now level with Hakkinen on 80 points, appears to be relishing the chance to turn the screw at the top of the table. "I don't know if he will crack," the German said of his main rival yesterday. "We shall have to see."
Certainly Hakkinen and his McLaren team-mate David Coulthard have their backs to the wall now, fighting off a ferocious Ferrari onslaught. Sunday's was the third successive race in which McLaren's seeming superiority was squandered.
In Hungary the choice of a twostop refuelling strategy handed a weight advantage to Schumacher's Ferrari as it out-paced Coulthard after Hakkinen faltered. A fortnight later Hakkinen took the restart at the Belgian Grand Prix on unsuitable Bridgestone intermediate tyres and spun off in the wet conditions. Then, at Monza, a near-catastrophic brake failure wiped out the Finn's chances while Coulthard was sidelined with an engine breakage.
The manner in which McLaren's advantage has dwindled could never have been expected by those who watched the opening race in Melbourne when Hakkinen and Coulthard carved up the result by prior agreement.
Long before they took the chequered flag in team formation, Schumacher had abandoned his Ferrari. The Italian team looked uncompetitive and their Goodyear tyres seemed alarmingly inferior to the Bridgestone opposition.
Goodyear have responded impressively. The American tyre giant is withdrawing from grand prix racing at the end of this season and it was thought they would be a token presence as they wound down.
Goodyear rose to the challenge, however, spurred on by pressure from Ferrari and their parent company Fiat, which has the commercial clout that comes with being a major customer for their road products.
McLaren have the best car and Mercedes the most powerful and efficient engine. But Ferrari now have the best driver, plus what must increasingly be regarded as superior tyres and team strategy.
In that respect the understanding between Schumacher and Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn, with whom he worked during his first World Championship season with Benetton in 1994, has been a key factor.
McLaren should have walked away with the Italian Grand Prix, a fact acknowledged by the MercedesBenz motor sport manager Norbert Haug when he admitted he was "ashamed of this performance".
The team's managing director Ron Dennis is not a man to flinch from a fight nor to show signs of nerves in the face of what could be the closest finish in the 49 years of the official World Championship.
Theoretically Hakkinen should be able to dominate the Luxembourg GP on September 27th. But then he should have done that at Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and the Hungaroring.
