Indianapolis Q&A: Mika Hakkinen.

Mika Hakkinen heads into the first USGP for nine years at the head of the world championship, and seemingly on course for a third title in as many years.

One of only three drivers in the current field to have raced in the last US race - at Phoenix in 1991 - the Finn is looking forward to going back.

Q:
Mika, you were second behind Michael Schumacher in your last race in Monza - what happened?

MH:
What happened in Monza? I came second - which was disappointing. The target was to go there and win the race and get ten points, but we didn't manage to do that. And running the car around the track during the race, I was not able to keep up with Michael and the Ferrari. Going through the corners I was not able to go on the gas as early as I wanted to, brake as late as I wanted too - I just didn't get it right that time. It's not a disaster - we still got six points, which is important - we're still leading the championship. It wasn't too bad after all.

Q:
West McLaren Mercedes has never tested at Indianapolis before, how difficult will it be to set-up?

MH:
Certainly, it is going to be a massive struggle for all the teams to find the exact right balance of the car on the first day. Even the teams that have made a lot of simulation back in there factory - where they have run a computer car to simulate the corners in Indianapolis have been trying to understand the balance of the car, the ride height and the stiffness of the chassis, gear ratio's - are going to [find it] very difficult to tell what we have available for Saturday and Sunday. It will be a big struggle but at least all teams are the same.

Q:
From the information you do have at West McLaren Mercedes about the Indy circuit, what are your thoughts about the track?

MH:
I had the time to go around the whole track by car, looking at the curves and particularly the banking - which is part of the Indianapolis [oval] track. It gave me a very good picture about the circuit and I thought they have done fantastic work. The tarmac is very smooth, the run-off area is very safe. I think its going to be fabulous.

I thought it had similar characteristics to Barcelona. The very first part of the circuit - like turn one, turn two and turn three - is like left, right, left, right. It's like in Barcelona - very similar - so I think for us, for me, they've picked the right circuit to race. I don't see any problems driving flat-out. The only problem is that Bridgestone, the tyre manufacturer, is telling us all the time that there is a danger because we are loading the car enormously round the corners and, if we don't run the correct pressure in the tyres, we can really be in serious trouble. I understand they are telling it to all the teams. Basically, we understand that, if we have to raise the pressure of the tyres extremely high, we will lose some performance - mostly in corners. So it's going to be a very fine line of what's going to be the right set-up for the car and set-up for the tyres to get the maximum out of the car round the whole lap.

Q:
The Indy Circuit will attract maximum spectators to see Formula One returning to America for the first time in ten years. What do you expect from Indy and will you be adopting a different approach to this weekend's race?

MH:
We're going to go maximum maybe 320 kph, which I guess is 210mph - so it's not that quick. So I don't think we will be breaking records, although I think, in Indianapolis, we're going to break one record because we have to go in a different [track] direction and nobody has done that [before], so we'll probably break that record.

You have to take this like a lot of grands prix - like when we go to Brazil or we go to Australia, you know we have to go there early enough to adapt to the time difference and just acclimatise to the weather. To come here is not anything too different to be honest, except this is a new track. So you have to take psychologically a different approach. To come to this circuit you have to be really 110 per cent in your mind, because you have to learn the track very fast, very quickly. So you can not come here like 'yeah, I know what this circuit is to drive - it's just braking in there, turning in there'. It's not like this - everything is totally new, so you have to be very sharp. That's why maybe there's a slightly different approach than other circuits in Europe or like say Brazil or Melbourne, it's going to be more difficult.

It's exciting to visit a different country again and experience different cultures. In that way, it is very interesting but, on the other hand, going to a new track is very difficult. I think I'm getting older really [laughs] - it's difficult to learn these circuits. It's very hard and, like I said today, it will take about 50-60 laps until you really learn the right and fine line. You need a lot of laps until you can really start braking to the final second. Time is limited, particularly if you have a problem tomorrow or Saturday morning. You start lacking some track time on the circuit and its going to make your life very, very difficult.