Mika Salo

Mika Salo could have easily been forgotten among the two Mikas after a hard-fought British Formula 3 championship in 1990, where he closely contested the title against his rival Mika Hakkinen. While the champion was signed by Lotus, Salo, despite his six wins, lacked sufficient backing to secure a ride in European F3000. It must have been disheartening for Salo, who had an impressive track record in karts and FF1600 in Scandinavia. Fortunately, he found a lifeline in Japan, testing and racing for Yokohama. Although his performance in the All-Japan F3000 championship wasn’t spectacular, his four-year stint in the Far East gave him substantial experience.

Nationality	Finnish
Born	Mika Juhani Salo 30 November 1966 Helsinki, Finland

This experience paid off when he drove for Lotus in the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix, where he shone in poor weather conditions, finishing tenth without making any errors. This performance revived his career, and when Lotus closed its doors, Salo joined Tyrrell for the 1995 season. He made a sensational debut in Brazil, nearly earning points but for a bout of cramp, and generally outperformed his teammate Ukyo Katayama throughout the season. Despite rough edges and questionable tactics, he managed three points-scoring finishes in the last six races.

Salo had the speed to climb higher in the Grand Prix ranks, but the 1996 season was challenging due to the fragility of the Yamaha engine. Locked into a three-year deal with Tyrrell, he was joined by Jos Verstappen in 1997. Although they had more reliable Ford engines, they lacked straight-line speed. Salo seized a chance to score points at Monaco, driving a brilliant non-stop race to finish fifth, highlighting his underutilised talent.

In 1998, Salo moved to Arrows to replace Damon Hill, finding himself in a similar situation with reliable but slow machinery. He managed a fourth-place finish at the 1998 Monaco Grand Prix but no other top-six finishes. When Pedro Diniz moved to Sauber with his sponsorship, Salo was replaced by Pedro de la Rosa and Toranosuke Takagi, both backed by substantial sponsorships. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Salo replaced Ricardo Zonta at BAR after Zonta’s injury. He finished one of his three races before stepping down, only to be quickly called back by Ferrari where he stood in for six races in 1999 due to the injured Michael Schumacher.

This was Salo’s big chance, and he made a significant impression at the 1999 German Grand Prix, controlling the race before moving aside to let teammate Eddie Irvine win in his championship quest. Salo scored two podiums and contributed to Ferrari winning the 1999 Constructors’ Championship. His drive helped to secure a seat at Sauber for 2000, but he left after one season to help prepare the new Toyota F1 team, which would eventually debut on the grid in 2002.

He scored two points for Toyota in their debut season, becoming the first driver since JJ Lehto at the 1993 South African Grand Prix to score points in a team’s first race by finishing sixth at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. He retired from Formula 1 at the end of 2002 after being fired by Toyota. Initially, the news was met with surprise, but it was later revealed that Salo had a strained relationship with the team, who criticised his performance as subpar.

During his Formula 1 career, Salo achieved two podiums and scored 33 championship points. Beyond F1, he went on to win the GT2 class in the 2008 and 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Mika Salo Formula One World Championship career

F1 Career	1994–2000, 2002
Teams	Lotus, Tyrrell, Arrows, BAR, Ferrari, Sauber, Toyota
Entries	111 (109 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	2
Career points	33
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1994 Japanese Grand Prix
Last entry	2002 Japanese Grand Prix

Mika Salo Teammates

8 drivers	Involvement	First Year	Last Year
Alessandro Zanardi	2	1994
Ukyo Katayama	32	1995	1996
Gabriele Tarquini	1	1995
Jos Verstappen	17	1997
Pedro Diniz	33	1998	2000
Jacques Villeneuve	3	1999
Eddie Irvine	6	1999
Allan McNish	17	2002

Complete Formula One Results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1994	Team Lotus	Lotus 109	Mugen Honda V10	BRA	PAC	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	JPN 10	AUS Ret		NC	0
1995	Nokia Tyrrell Yamaha	Tyrrell 023	Yamaha V10	BRA 7	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	ESP 10	MON Ret	CAN 7	FRA 15	GBR 8	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL 8	ITA 5	POR 13	EUR 10	PAC 12	JPN 6	AUS 5	15th	5
1996	Tyrrell Yamaha	Tyrrell 024	Yamaha V10	AUS 6	BRA 5	ARG Ret	EUR DSQ	SMR Ret	MON 5 †	ESP DSQ	CAN Ret	FRA 10	GBR 7	GER 9	HUN Ret	BEL 7	ITA Ret	POR 11	JPN Ret		13th	5
1997	PIAA Tyrrell Ford	Tyrrell 025	Ford V8	AUS Ret	BRA 13	ARG 8	SMR 9	MON 5	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN 13	BEL 11	ITA Ret	AUT Ret	LUX 10	JPN Ret	EUR 12	17th	2
1998	Danka Zepter Arrows	Arrows A19	Arrows V10	AUS Ret	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR 9	ESP Ret	MON 4	CAN Ret	FRA 13	GBR Ret	AUT Ret	GER 14	HUN Ret	BEL DNS	ITA Ret	LUX 14	JPN Ret		13th	3
1999	British American Racing	BAR 01	Supertec V10	AUS	BRA	SMR 7 †	MON Ret	ESP 8	CAN	FRA	GBR										10th	10
	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari F399	Ferrari V10									AUT 9	GER 2	HUN 12	BEL 7	ITA 3	EUR Ret	MAL	JPN
2000	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C19	Petronas V10	AUS DSQ	BRA DNS	SMR 6	GBR 8	ESP 7	EUR Ret	MON 5	CAN Ret	FRA 10	AUT 6	GER 5	HUN 10	BEL 9	ITA 7	USA Ret	JPN 10	MAL 8	11th	6
2002	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF102	Toyota V10	AUS 6	MAL 12	BRA 6	SMR Ret	ESP 9	AUT 8	MON Ret	CAN Ret	EUR Ret	GBR Ret	FRA Ret	GER 9	HUN 15	BEL 7	ITA 11	USA 14	JPN 8	17th	2

Sources: Historicracing.com and Wikipedia.com