Hakkinen hints at F1 return as a manager

Mika Hakkinen is considering a full-time return to premier motor racing — as a driver manager.

Whilst backing his former title rival Michael Schumacher to return to top form and win a race on his 2010 comeback, the similarly 41-year-old Hakkinen also admits he still feels the lure of the sport.

"I miss racing every day. It’s very close to my heart," said the double world champion, who raced in DTM between 2005 and 2007 after retiring from F1 at the end of 2001.

The Finn told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper: "I’ll be back but I don’t know when or where. I just know that I will do it again.

"Perhaps I will come back to F1 as a manager," added Hakkinen.

Indeed, he is also part of his own manager Didier Coton’s Aces Group company, and has been linked with Lewis Hamilton in the wake of the McLaren driver’s professional split with his father Anthony.