Hakkinen did not write ‘tragic hero’ column
19 November, 2010
Mika Hakkinen denies "tragic hero" criticism of Michael Schumacher
Nov.19 (GMM) The author of a newspaper column erroneously attributed to Mika Hakkinen has been dismissed. The Finn was quoted by Munich newspaper TZ as describing Michael Schumacher as a “tragic ex-hero” who made “a ridiculous mistake” at the start of the recent Abu Dhabi grand prix.
Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher in their early days
“In my view, he is dismantling his own legacy bit by bit,” Hakkinen – who also called the German “too arrogant” – reportedly wrote.
But TZ has now issued an apology and correction, admitting that the column had not been authorised by double world champion Hakkinen.
“The statements attributed to Mr Hakkinen, particularly in relation to Michael Schumacher, were not true and were not authorised.
“We regret this and apologise to our readers, to Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher, and as a consequence we are no longer working with the staff member concerned,” added TZ.
YallaF1.com published the article which was syndicated through GMM in good faith, but have removed it since these revelations were made public. We apologise to our readers if any offence was caused.
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- The fine line between hero and zero in F1
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- Hakkinen: Schumi struggling to adapt
- Hakkinen looks to F1 driver management
It didn’t seem in line with how I’d perceived Hakkinen’s character. So I’m not surprised to learn that the statements were false.
These things happen and the error got corrected so “lessons were learned”, end of story.