The Bookworm Critique "MIKA"
By Alan Henry; Published by Queensgate Publications.	by Mark Glendenning, Australia

Try to think of any current Formula One writer more prolific than Alan Henry, and I bet you'll find yourself struggling. Besides his regular work contributing to The Guardian and Autocar, Henry has written a myriad of books covering everything from team histories to technical information. This, his latest release, is an account of Mika Hakkinen's successful back-to-back championship campaign; one of surprisingly few that have been written about the Finn since he sealed his place in the annals of Formula One history. It's also quite possibly the shortest Formula One book I have ever read, but more about that later. 'Mika' traces the career of the Finn from his early races with Lotus to the authoritative drive at Suzuka in 1999 that saw him claim his second World Championship. It's a comprehensive book to the extent that all the major events in Hakkinen's career are included, but it falls well short of anything I would describe as in-depth. Then again, given that a nine-year career has been squished into less than 120 pages of text, the absence of any real detail should come as little surprise. Nevertheless, this is still a pretty good read. It's extremely succinct, which I guess is something of a necessity considering that the author apparently had so little space to work with. Everything is included for a reason - no superfluities here. Better still, some of the information is genuinely revealing and insightful. This is rarer than you might think - words such as 'insightful' are routinely plastered on the cover of just about every book that comes out, yet very few modern Formula One titles actually live up to the term. While 'Mika' doesn't exactly feature page after page of stunning revelations, there is certainly some good stuff here. I was particularly interested in the section that featured Ron Dennis' thoughts on the controversial finish to the 1997 European Grand Prix at Jerez - Mika Hakkinen's first Formula One victory: "In our efforts not to interfere with the outcome of the World Championship, we reversed the first pit stop sequence previously agreed for Mika and David at Jerez. David stopped first and that disadvantaged Mika, and therefore I decided when Villeneuve was clearly not going to resist any overtaking manoeuver, to instruct David to reverse the order again' 'I don't have to justify that to anybody, and you might say it was a hollow win for Mika. But for him not to have won a race in his career, not through the lack of his own efforts, would not have been right. So I felt completely justified in taking off his shoulders for 1998 the psychological pressure of not having won a race.' 'There were lots of races he should have won, but didn't. You might argue that this was a race he shouldn't have won, but he did. But I only reversed the situation which the team had already created and the disappointment which was clearly on David's face - and I'm being kind to myself saying disappointment - was due to the fact that there had been no dialogue before the race, and he couldn't understand why we were apparently being unfair to him.' 'He felt understandably upset, feeling we were showing favouritism to Mika. But I hope, on reflection, David understood." (pp.12-13). Another highlight for me was the first photo in the little image gallery that is invariably plonked into the middle of these kinds of books. Featuring a full-page shot of a young Hakkinen, looking resplendent in his aqua Lotus race suit, sporting a rather startling hairstyle that looks suspiciously Elvis-esque, and riding a unicycle, this has to be one of the coolest shots of a modern F1 driver that I have ever seen. Memo to the publishers: if this book is ever updated and re-released, put this photo on the front cover and I promise I'll buy ten copies. 'Mika' has few real shortcomings. Probably the single biggest question mark is the price, which seems a little excessive given the length of the book. Also, the occasional (and, where Henry is concerned, uncharacteristic) ambiguously phrased sentences suggest that it may have been written in a hurry. This is a minor blight on what is otherwise an engaging and flowing text. There's a nice combination of quotes and interviews from Hakkinen and people close to him, interspersed with some of Henry's own reflections drawn from his considerable experience in covering Formula One. Although this is a very decent read, I'd be surprised if it found much appeal to anyone other than Hakkinen fans. While the material is solid and reliable, there is too little depth to give the book much currency amongst the general Formula One community. Supporters of the Flying Finn might be looking for an extensive and detailed book about their hero, and if this is the case then their wait is not over yet. Still, this little volume should be sufficient to offer some satisfaction in the meantime.

Mark Glendenning	© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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