Mika Juhani Salo (born 30 November 1966) is a Finnish former professional racing driver.
He competed in Formula One between 1994 and 2002. His best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999, when he stood in for the injured Michael Schumacher at Ferrari for six races, scoring two podiums. He also won the GT2 class in the 2008 and 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Mika Salo raced in F1 before 2000 but continued in various forms of motorsport after that. It was difficult to condense the later racing down to a brief description so I have included details of his racing during this later period.
Mika Salo started in karts in Finland before moving on to Formula Ford in Scandinavia and Europe and then raced in British F3 for Alan Docking Racing. In his second year with them, in 1990 and racing a Ralt chassis, he had a season long battle with West Surrey Racing’s Mika Hakkinen but despite taking six victories, four poles and six fastest laps, he finished second to M.Hakkinen’s nine wins, eleven poles and ten fastest laps.
The following year saw a move to Japan to continue his motorsport journey, racing in Japanese F3000 for AD Racing plus he was involved in testing and racing on behalf of Yokohama. In his four-years there, he gained a great deal of of experience and at the end of 1994, while racing for Team 5Zigen, several days before the Japanese GP he was asked to drive for Lotus in the race, and Australia. However, he had never been in an F1 car before nor even tested one but despite his debut at Suzuka taking place in appalling conditions, he drove the Lotus 109 to a tenth place finish without once making a mistake, though retired in Adelaide.
Following this, Lotus signed him for 1995, but when the team folded at the end of the season, he joined Tyrrell and stayed with them for the next three seasons. His best results with them during this period were fifth places in Italy and Australia, and sixth in Japan (in 1995) plus fifth in Brazil and Monaco and sixth in Australia (in 1996). In 1997 at Monaco, he completed the whole, rain-shortened, race without refuelling and took a strong fifth place finish. Mika himself said later that the most fun he had was with the Tyrrell team from 1995 to 1997.
1998 saw a switch to Arrows, but despite a fourth place finish at Monaco it was a disappointing season for him and the team, with ninth at San Marino, thirteenth in France, and fourteenth at Germany and the Luxembourg GP. At Spa his car was damaged in the massive first lap crash but despite having taken the first start prior to the race being stopped, he was listed as ‘Did Not Start’ in the official results.
There was no full-time drive in 1999 though following an injury to BAR driver Ricardo Zonta, Mika took his place for three races, finishing seventh at San Marino and eighth in Spain. However, following this came the call from Ferrari to partner Eddie Irvine, replacing Michael Schumacher (who had broken his leg in a crash in the British GP). He finished ninth in Austria and later took third at Monza but what happened in his second race, at Hockenheim, would be long remembered. He qualified fourth for the race, though had a good start and was second after the first corner. He was now behind Mika Hakkinen, later telling how “Mika and I were just straight away pulling away from everybody else. It was like our old Formula 3 days.” Hakkinen pitted for fuel and fresh tyres on lap 24 though was delayed when his fuel rig malfunctioned so Mika then led the Grand Prix. But it did not last. Hakkinen’s tyre blew up on lap 25 and he crashed out but despite Mika leading, he received a call from the pits asking him to let Irvine pass. Irvine eventually led him over the finish line in a Ferrari 1-2 and later handed Mika the winner’s trophy, declaring ”Mika was the star today and he won the race. He is ‘Boy Wonder!.”
On the strength of his Ferrari performances he landed a drive with Sauber Petronas and his best results were fifth places in Monaco and Germany plus sixth at San Marino and Austria.
At the end of the season he left to join the new Toyota team, who were preparing to enter Formula One in 2002. He scored two points for them in their first season, with sixth places at Australia and Brazil, and became the first driver since JJ Lehto (1993 South African GP) to score points on a team’s debut. Unfortunately the team replaced him, and team mate Allan McNish for the following season.
After this, he contested several CART races in 2003 for PK Racing and achieved third at Miami and fifth in Mexico. During the year he raced an Audi R8 in the 12 Hours of Sebring, plus Le Mans, with F.Biela and P.McCarthy. There would be further drives at Le Mans, racing Risi Competition’s Ferrari F430 GT2 from 2007 to 2009 and he took GT2 class victories in 2008 (with G.Bruni and J.Meloand) and 2009 (with J.Melo and P.Kaffer). He returned there again, with AF Corse in 2010 and 2014 with SMP Racing.
In 2004 he raced in the FIA GT series, narrowly missing out on a win at the Spa 24 Hours in a Ferrari 575 (with P.Peter, F.Babini and V.Vosse). During this time he had become involved in the Maserati MC12 GT development program and at the last four FIA GT races of the year, he raced AF Corse’s Maserati and took victories at Oschersleben and Zuhai plus second place at Imola.
2005 was a barren year, with only two races with a Maserati MC12 in the ALMS, finishing ninth at Portland but in 2006 he returned to racing full-time.
He raced a Ferrari F430 for AF Corse in the FIA GT series, winning his class in the Spa 24 Hours and finished third in the FIA GT2 Drivers’ Championship. During the year he also competed with Risi Competizione in the ALMS and helped the team towards becoming GT2 champions. He continued with Risi Competizione the following year in the ALMS, taking GT2 class honours at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and eight victories out of twelve races saw him and Jaime Melo take the championship. He also stood in for Michael Bartels in the RAC Tourist Trophy, and he and Thomas Biagi took victory in their Maserati MC12. He wasn’t successful in defending his title with the team the following year though finishing eighteenth overall at Le Mans saw him take the GT2 class. He only contested the blue ribbon events in 2009, including the 12 Hours of Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans, but won all three events.
2009 saw him have a NASCAR test with Michael Waltrip Racing at New Smyrna Speedway, Florida while between 2010–2012 he raced in V8 Supercars at the Gold Coast 600s. Racing with Will Davison and Ford Performance Racing, he finished second in a 2011 race and won it in 2012. Also in Australia, he took Maranello Motorsport’s Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 to victory in 2014’s Bathurst 12 Hour alongside Craig Lowndes, John Bowe and Peter Edwards.
He has been an F1 commentator on MTV3 and MTV3 MAX, hosted a Finnish TV-show ‘Test Drive by Mika Salo’ and in 2013 featured in a Discovery program, ‘Driven to Extremes’, along with actors Tom Hardy and Adrien Brody. His godson Jesse Krohn took up racing, competing in Formula Renault in Scandinavia and the UK and Mika is currently an FIA driver steward at selected races plus involved as a sporting director and advisor with SMP Racing.
