Mika Hakkinen Tribute

Mika Pauli Häkkinen (born September 28, 1968 in Vantaa) is a Finnish racing driver and two-time Formula One champion.

He is considered by many to have been Michael Schumacher's greatest rival in Formula One. The German has said that Häkkinen is the rival he respects the most in his Formula One career.

Mika has also been named as the Responsible Drinking Ambassador for McLaren sponsor Johnnie Walker.

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Stefan Bellof

Stefan Bellof (born in Gießen, Germany on November 20, 1957 – died in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium on September 1, 1985) was a Formula One driver who raced for the Tyrrell team. After taking the German FF1600 title in 1980 he made his debut mid-season in German Formula 3, almost winning the championship. In 1983, with BMW backing, he got a place in Willy Maurer’s European F2 team, winning the first two races of the season. Maurer would later become his manager.

He also joined the Rothmans-backed Porsche factory team for the World Endurance Championship the same season. He joined Tyrrell in 1984. He won the World Endurance Championship for drivers, and helped Porsche to win the manufacturer's title, in the same year.

Regarded as a likely future F1 World Champion, he was killed at the 1985 1000km Spa sports car race, when he tangled his Walter Brun-entered Porsche 956 with Jacky Ickx's works 956 at Eau Rouge corner, with both cars catching fire and halting the race.

Always saddled with uncompetitive cars in F1, Bellof never truly had the opportunity to show his talent. According to The Official Stefan Bellof Website, there was an offer from Ferrari for the 1986 Formula One season. Today, he is often mentioned as Michael Schumacher's childhood racing idol and during an interview for the January 2007 issue of the 911 and Porsche World magazine, teammate Derek Bell felt Stefan's death was caused by lack of discipline in his driving style and felt the blame was those around Stefan including team personnels who should had allow him to mature.

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Jim Clark

Jim (or Jimmy) Clark OBE (born 4 March 1936 – died 7 April 1968) was a Scottish Formula One (F1) racing driver. Twice World Champion, he was the dominant driver of his era.

Clark achieved 33 pole positions and won 25 races from his 72 Grands Prix starts in championship races. He is remembered for his ability to drive and win in all types of cars and series, including a Lotus-Cortina, with which he won the 1964 British Touring Car Championship, IndyCar, NASCAR, driving a Ford Galaxie for the Holman Moody team, Rallying, where he took part in the 1966 RAC Rally of Great Britain in a Lotus Cortina, and nearly won the event before crashing, and sports cars. He competed in the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1959, 1960 and 1961, finishing 2nd in class in 1959 driving a Lotus Elite, and finishing 3rd overall in 1960, driving an Aston Martin DBR1.

He was also able to master difficult Lotus sportscar prototypes such as the Lotus 30 and 40. Clark had an uncanny ability to adapt to whichever car he was driving. Whilst other drivers would struggle to find a good car setup, Clark would usually set competitive lap times with whatever setup was provided and ask for the car to be left as it was.

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Jackie Stewart

Sir John Young Stewart (born 11 June 1939 in Milton, West Dunbartonshire), better known as Jackie Stewart, and nicknamed The Flying Scot, is a British former racing driver from Scotland.

He competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three world titles. He also competed in the Can-Am championship. He is well-known in the United States as a commentator of racing television broadcasts where his Scottish accent made him a distinctive presence.

Between 1997 and 1999 he was team principal in partnership with his son, Paul Stewart of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team.

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Nigel Mansell

Nigel Ernest James Mansell (born August 8, 1953 in Upton-on-Severn, Worcestershire) is a British racing driver from England who won world championships in both Formula One (1992) and CART (1993). He is the only person in history to hold both titles simultaneously, and was the first person to win the CART title in his rookie season.

His career in Formula One spanned 15 seasons, and he spent two seasons in CART. He remains the most successful British Formula One driver of all-time in terms of race wins with 31 victories, and is fourth overall on the Formula One race winners list behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna. He was rated in the top 10 Formula One drivers of all time by Murray Walker, who was a Formula One commentator for 50 years.

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Gilles Villeneuve Tribute

Joseph Gilles Henri Villeneuve (January 18, 1950 – May 8, 1982) was a Canadian Formula One racing driver. An enthusiast of cars and fast driving from an early age, he started his professional career in snowmobile racing in his native province of Quebec. He moved into single seaters - winning the US and Canadian Formula Atlantic championships in 1976 before being offered a one-off drive with McLaren at the 1977 British Grand Prix. He was taken on by reigning world champions Ferrari for the end of the season - in only his fifth season racing cars - and from 1978 to his death in 1982 drove for the Italian team. He won six Grand Prix races in a short career at the highest level. In 1979 he finished second by four points in the championship to teammate Jody Scheckter.

Villeneuve died in a 140 mph crash with the March of Jochen Mass during practice for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder (see more below). The accident came only two weeks after an intense argument with his team-mate, Didier Pironi, over Pironi's move to pass Villeneuve at Imola. At the time of his death, Villeneuve was extremely popular with fans and with many journalists, on whom his death had a profound effect. Since 1982 he has become an iconic figure in the history of the sport, renowned for his car control, aggressive driving style, and a 'never give up' attitude. His son, Jacques Villeneuve, became Formula One world champion in 1997.

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Niki Lauda

Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda (born February 22, 1949 in Vienna) is an Austrian former Formula One (F1) racing driver and three-time F1 World Champion.

From March Formula 2 team, Lauda was quickly promoted to the F1 team and drove for March in both F1 and F2 in 1972. March's 1972 F1 season was catastrophic and Lauda, in despair, briefly contemplated drastic action but finally took out yet another bank loan to buy his way into the BRM team in 1973. Lauda was instantly quick but the team was in decline; his big break came when his BRM team-mate Clay Regazzoni rejoined Ferrari in 1974 and team owner Enzo Ferrari asked him what he thought of Lauda.

After an unsuccessful start to the 1970s culminating in a disastrous start to the 1973 season, Ferrari regrouped completely under Luca Montezemolo and were resurgent in 1974. The team's faith in the little-known Lauda was quickly rewarded by a second-place finish in his début race for the team, the season-opening Argentine Grand Prix. His first Grand Prix (GP) victory – and the first for Ferrari since 1972 – followed only three races later in Spain. Although Lauda became the season's pacesetter, achieving six consecutive pole positions, a mixture of inexperience and mechanical unreliability meant Lauda won only one more race that year, the Dutch GP. He finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship and demonstrated immense commitment to testing and improving the car.

The 1975 F1 season started slowly for Lauda, but after nothing better than a fifth-place finish in the first four races he then won four out of the next five races in the new Ferrari 312T. His first World Championship was confirmed with a fifth win at the last race of the year, the United States GP.

Unlike 1975, Lauda dominated the start of the 1976 F1 season, winning four of the first six races and finishing second in the other two. By the time of his fifth win of the year at the British GP, he had more than double the points of his closest challenger Jody Scheckter and a second consecutive World Championship appeared a formality. It would be a feat not achieved since Jack Brabham's victories in 1959 and 1960.
Niki Lauda practicing at the Nürburgring during the 1976 German Grand Prix.
Niki Lauda practicing at the Nürburgring during the 1976 German Grand Prix.

In the next race, however, the German GP at the long Nürburgring circuit, disaster struck. On the second lap of the race, Lauda's car swerved off the track, due to a suspected rear suspension faliure, hit an embankment and rolled back into the path of Brett Lunger's Surtees-Ford car. Lauda's car burst into flames, but, unlike Lunger, he was trapped in the wreckage. Drivers Arturo Merzario and Guy Edwards arrived at the scene a few moments later, but before they and Lunger were able to pull Lauda from his car, he suffered severe burns to his head and inhaled hot toxic gases that damaged his lungs and blood. Although Lauda was conscious and able to stand immediately after the accident, he later lapsed into a coma and a priest administered the last rites.

Lauda suffered extensive scarring from the burns, which became possibly his most famous attribute in the eyes of the public. He only had enough reconstructive surgery to get his eyelids to work properly, but never felt a need to do any more. This also contributed to his reputation as being cold and computer-like. Since the accident he is almost never seen in public without his loyal red Parmalat cap to cover the scars on his head, another recognizable attribute.

Incredibly, Lauda not only survived his injuries but returned to race only six weeks (two races) later, finishing a sensational fourth in the Italian GP. During Lauda's absence, McLaren driver James Hunt had reduced Lauda's lead in the World Championship standings. Following wins in the Canadian and United States GPs, Hunt stood only three points behind Lauda before the final race of the season, the Japanese GP.

Lauda qualified third, one place behind Hunt, but on race day there was torrential rain and Lauda retired after 2 laps, stating that he felt it was unsafe to continue under these conditions. Hunt led much of the race before a late puncture dropped him down the order. He recovered to 3rd, thus winning the title by a single point.

Lauda's previously good relationship with Ferrari was severely affected by his decision to withdraw from the race, and he endured a difficult 1977 season, despite easily winning the championship through consistency rather than outright pace. Having announced his decision to quit Ferrari at season's end, Lauda left early due to the team's decision to run the then unknown Gilles Villeneuve in a third car at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Having joined Brabham in 1978 for a $1 Million salary, Lauda endured two unsuccessful seasons, notable mainly for his one race in the Brabham BT46B, a radical design known as the Fan Car. The vehicle won its only race and was then promptly banned. At the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, Lauda informed Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone that he wished to retire immediately, as he had no more desire to "drive around in circles". Lauda, who had founded a charter airline, returned to Austria to run the company full-time.

Needing money to shore up his new business, in 1982 Lauda returned to racing, feeling that he still had a career in Formula One. After a successful test with McLaren, the only problem was in convincing then team sponsor Marlboro that he was still capable of winning. Lauda proved he was still quite capable when, in his third race back, he won the Long Beach Grand Prix. Lauda would win a third world championship in 1984 by one-half point over teammate Alain Prost.

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Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna da Silva (March 21, 1960–May 1, 1994), better known as Ayrton Senna, was a Brazilian Formula One triple world champion. He died whilst leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

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... and just one more Senna Tribute:

Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher (pronounced /mɪçaeːl ʃumaxɐ (help•info)/, born January 3, 1969, in Hürth Hermülheim, Germany)[1] is a former Formula One driver, and seven-time world champion. According to the official Formula One website, he is "statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen".[2] He is the first German to win the F1 World championship[3] and is credited with popularising Formula One in Germany.[4] In a 2006 FIA survey Michael Schumacher was voted the most popular driver with F1 fans.[5]

After winning two championships with Benetton, Schumacher moved to the Ferrari team in 1996, which had not won a drivers' championship since 1979. From 2000 to 2004, Schumacher won five consecutive drivers' titles with the team. Triple World Champion Jackie Stewart believes his transformation of the Ferrari team was Schumacher's greatest feat.[6] As of 2006, Schumacher holds nearly every record in Formula One, including most drivers' championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions, points scored and most races won in a single season. His career as a driver was not one free of controversy, most notably his disqualification from the 1997 championship for causing a collision with Jacques Villeneuve.[7]

Off the track, Schumacher is an ambassador for UNESCO and a spokesman for driver safety. He has also been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts throughout his life, donating at least $50 million in just the last four years of his driving career.[8]

On September 10, 2006, Schumacher announced his retirement as a driver.[9] It was revealed on 29 October 2006 that Schumacher will act as assistant to the newly appointed Scuderia Ferrari CEO Jean Todt for the 2007 Formula One Season, in particular scouting for new drivers.

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