Mika Häkkinen is no stranger to McLaren, having won the Formula 1 drivers’ championship in both 1998 and 1999 in a Mercedes-powered McLaren. The Flying Finn obviously missed the fun of driving one of Woking’s winning machines when he inquired about a place on the order list for the Speedtail. “In 2018, I was invited to drive the Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR for a few laps around Laguna Seca. What a machine! The central seating position, the sound, the responsiveness – even for a car that was almost 25 years old – incredible,” recalled Mika. “When insiders told me about the successor they were working on, I studied the technical data and thought: ‘Okay, this is not like other supercars, this is going to be something special.’ So I called, but even with my relationships with McLaren, it wasn’t easy.”

Indeed. Because, although a former world champion, he had to dutifully fill out the application form like everyone else, just at the same time that another prominent McLaren fanatic, Rowan Atkinson, also signed up. In Mika’s words: “Finally, they got back to me and said, ‘We could provide you with a car, but we also have a request from Rowan Atkinson, and you’re both VIPs, but we only have one space left. Would you like it?'” There was only one answer to that question, and two years later, in July 2020, Mika took delivery of his Speedtail. In a beautiful Volcano Red paint job and the Contour Pack in Nerello Red to better accentuate the impressive finishes of the hypercar equipped with a 1035 hp bi-turbo V8 hybrid engine.

Mika’s car is the 25th of 106, a nod to the number of fastest laps driven during his Formula 1 career. Now offered by Kidston Motor Cars with just 50 kilometres on the clock, it is a unique opportunity to add one of the most stunning automobiles of the 21st century (official top speed 400 km/h) with a special ownership story to your collection.