Mika Häkkinen escapes death after a horrific crash in Australia - On This Day

In 1995, Mika Häkkinen was already being talked about as one of Formula 1's great emerging talents. The Finn finished second twice that season despite driving an unreliable McLaren.

What followed in the years after is well known: Häkkinen developed into Michael Schumacher's fiercest rival, going on to claim back-to-back world titles.

But he came agonisingly close to never getting that chance, after a terrifying accident during Friday qualifying for the 1995 Australian Grand Prix very nearly killed him, 31 years ago today.

Häkkinen was approaching Brewery Bend, a corner on the old Adelaide Street Circuit, at full speed. Unknown to him, his McLaren MP4/10 had a flat tyre. As he braked, the car spun out of control, launched off a curb and went airborne before slamming head-on into a single row of tyre stacks at close to 200 kilometres per hour.

A crash of that magnitude would still be a heavy shunt by modern standards, but rarely a life-threatening one. For comparison, Max Verstappen's impact into the barriers during the 2021 British Grand Prix registered 51G. Häkkinen, however, had no HANS device to protect him, and behind his single row of tyres sat a solid concrete wall.

The consequences were brutal. Without the HANS system, Häkkinen was thrown forward inside the cockpit with such force that his head smashed into the steering wheel, breaking it on impact, before striking the sides of the survival cell.

He suffered a severe skull fracture, internal bleeding, a blocked airway, partial facial paralysis and broken ossicles in his ear.

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'I realised this was serious'

Häkkinen later gave a detailed account of the crash on the Beyond the Grid podcast, recalling the incident in striking detail.

"I didn't see the guardrail coming because the car was spinning through the air. So when I hit the guardrail, it happened very suddenly. It came as a surprise," Häkkinen said.

"At that moment, my head moved with tremendous force, causing me to fracture my skull. The impact itself was accompanied by a tremendous noise. I still remember sitting in the car and not being able to lift my arms. I couldn't move my legs. I realised this was serious.

"I realised what had happened and told myself, 'Mika, just don't do anything.' Well, I couldn't move anyway. But for some reason, my brain was telling me not to move. Stay calm and wait for help to arrive.

"Fortunately, there was an entire medical team standing by at that specific turn, including doctors. Within 15 to 20 seconds, they were there to help me. That's when they discovered I couldn't breathe."

Two volunteer doctors who happened to be stationed near the crash site rushed to Häkkinen's aid and performed an emergency tracheotomy to clear his blocked airway.

"I remember the pain, and then I lost consciousness," Häkkinen recalled. "I was conscious right up until the moment they cut an opening in my throat."

Häkkinen's condition then deteriorated rapidly. F1's medical delegate at the time, Sid Watkins, had to perform CPR on him twice after arriving at the scene.

Following extensive treatment trackside, Häkkinen was transferred to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he was placed in intensive care and treated by neurosurgeons.

He remained in a coma for more than a day before regaining consciousness, and spent around two and a half months in hospital recovering from his injuries.

The story has a happy ending. Häkkinen was back behind the wheel in full force by the start of the 1996 season, and went on to be crowned F1 champion in both 1998 and 1999.