Mika Salo
Mika Juhani Salo is a Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One between and. 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.
Career
Formula Three and Japanese racing
In 1989, Helsinki-born Salo competed in the British Formula 3 Championship, racing for Alan Docking Racing. He raced with the Reynard Alfa Romeo package which was not the season's best. Staying with Alan Docking Racing for 1990 and moving to a more competitive Ralt chassis, he raced against countryman and fierce rival Mika Häkkinen in Formula Three, finishing second to him.In 1990, Salo was caught driving under the influence in London.
In 1991 Salo headed to Japan to race in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship. His initial aim was to race in Europe's Formula 3000 but did not garner enough funding to compete. A budget would have spanned from £200,000 to £500,000 to drive in Europe and Salo had only collected a fraction over £200,000, not enough to stay competitive. While in Japan, Salo landed a competitive seat and got also paid for driving for AD Racing's in their single car team. The Japanese Formula 3000 Championship in 1991 had increased stature thanks to the aggrieved Johnny Herbert raising the calibre of the championship, driving in Japan in the same time than Salo.
Formula One
1994–1998: Lotus, Tyrrell and Arrows
After a few years racing in Japan he made his first Formula One start at the penultimate round of the season in Japan for the ailing Lotus team. He was kept on for the season's finale in Australia. Following the collapse of Lotus following the end of the season, Salo moved to Tyrrell for. He was to spend three years with the team, scoring points several times. In the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix he completed the whole race without refuelling, taking fifth place ahead of the faster Giancarlo Fisichella as a result. Despite a promising with Arrows, he had no full-time drive in.1999: British American Racing and Ferrari
Following an injury to BAR driver Ricardo Zonta, Salo took his place for three races whilst the Brazilian recovered. BAR's first season was not successful but Salo scored their best result of the year, with a seventh place finish at San Marino. However a greater opportunity arose when Michael Schumacher broke his leg in a crash during the 1999 British Grand Prix. Salo was selected as his substitute to partner Eddie Irvine at Ferrari. In his second race in Ferrari at the 1999 German Grand Prix Salo led for part of the race and would have scored a Grand Prix win but team orders demanded that he give the lead to Irvine, who at the time was fighting for the championship with Mika Häkkinen. Following the race, Irvine handed his victory trophy over to Salo as a gesture of gratitude. He also finished third at Monza, ahead of Irvine. These podium finishes were critical in helping Ferrari win their first Constructors' title since.2000–2002: Sauber and Toyota
Salo was back full-time in with Sauber, taking 11th in the championship, although he left the team at the end of the season to join the new Toyota team in preparation for its Formula One entry in, and also cited a desire to score podiums rather than lower points-scoring positions. He scored two points for Toyota in their first season, becoming the first driver since JJ Lehto at the 1993 South African Grand Prix to score points on a team's debut by finishing sixth at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix. He retired from Formula One at the end of 2002, after surprisingly getting fired from Toyota.During his Formula One career, he achieved two podiums, and scored a total of 33 championship points.
Post-Formula One
His first post-Formula One race came at the 2003 12 Hours of Sebring, driving the UK-entered Audi R8, the same car he was due to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans if it had not run out of fuel already after the first hour. He raced in four CART races for PK Racing during the same year, his best finish being third in Miami in his second series start.Because of his strong links with Ferrari he was picked up to be part of the development program of the Maserati MC12 GT racer. He made his FIA GT debut in 2004, narrowly losing the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in a Ferrari 575. After that he entered the last four races of the season in the Maserati, winning two races and finishing second once.
2005 was a year somewhat lost in the doldrums with only two participations with the Maserati MC12 in the ALMS GTS-class, a competition where the car turned out to be not even half as competitive as in the FIA GT series.
For 2006, Salo returned to racing full-time, signing with AF Corse in the FIA GT to drive the Ferrari F430 and later on in the year with Risi Competizione in the ALMS. He was victorious in class in the 24 Hours of Spa and finished third in the FIA GT2 Drivers' Championship with 61 points, while his efforts in the ALMS contributed to Risi's Teams' Championship cup.
In the following year he continued with Risi Competizione in the ALMS and took the GT2 class honours in the 12 Hours of Sebring and the championship along with teammate Jaime Melo. They won a total of eight races out of twelve in the class. In addition, he won the RAC Tourist Trophy with Thomas Biagi when substituting for Michael Bartels, driving a Maserati MC12 once more.
Salo and Melo with Risi Competizione earned the first team At-Large honours on the 2007 All-American Racing Team, as voted for by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters.
Salo raced again in the ALMS for Risi Competizione in 2008. Although he was not successful in defending his previous year's titles, he won the GT2 class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, coming in 18th overall.
In 2009, he joined the Risi Ferrari team at the blue-riband races only, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Petit Le Mans event, winning all three of them. Having won these enduro races all more than once, Salo felt he was ready for a new challenge. He set his mind on NASCAR, and had his first test with Michael Waltrip Racing at the half-mile New Smyrna Speedway in November 2009.
In 2010–12, Salo competed in the Gold Coast 600, an endurance event for the V8 Supercars. In 2010, he partnered with Walkinshaw Racing's Andrew Thompson and retired from both races. For 2011–12 he raced with Will Davison and the Ford Performance Racing team, finishing 2nd in the 1st race of 2011 and winning the 2nd race in 2012.
In 2014, driving for Maranello Motorsport, Salo co-drove a Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 to victory at the Bathurst 12 Hour alongside Australian motor racing legends Craig Lowndes and John Bowe, and another local Australian driver Peter Edwards.
Personal
Salo lives in Estonia, and has a son called Max and a daughter with his wife Noriko. His godson Jesse Krohn competes in Formula Renault, both in Scandinavia and the UK. Like fellow Finns Keke Rosberg and JJ Lehto, both former Formula One drivers, Salo has commentated on several F1 races on MTV3 and the pay-channel MTV3 MAX since 2005. Since 2011, Salo has been hosting the Finnish TV-show, Virittäjät, along with his former co-host Tomi Tuominen, who is a Finnish journalist, television presenter, sports commentator and former co-driver in the World Rally Championship.In 2013, Salo featured in Discovery channel's program called Driven to Extremes along with Hollywood actors Tom Hardy and Adrien Brody. Salo appeared in two episodes, one with Tom Hardy in minus 50 degrees Celsius in Russia, and the other one with Adrien Brody to the Malaysian jungle at the height of the monsoon season.
Helmet
Salo's helmet was originally dark blue with a white halo on the top, 2 white stripes going from the rear going down diagonally to the sides of the helmet and a white trapezoidal shape on the chin area, slightly based on Prost's helmet. When he raced in Formula One, he changed the helmet from dark blue to sky blue with the rest of the elements intact.Racing record
Complete Japanese Formula 3000 Championship results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Points |
| 1991 | Ad Racing Team Co. Ltd. | SUZ | AUT 14 | FUJ DNQ | MIN 6 | SUZ DNQ | SUG DNQ | FUJ 18 | SUZ DNQ | FUJ C | SUZ Ret | FUJ Ret | 23rd | 1 |
| 1992 | Ad Racing Team Co. Ltd. | SUZ Ret | FUJ 15 | MIN 4 | SUZ Ret | AUT 10 | SUG Ret | FUJ 18 | FUJ 17 | SUZ 7 | FUJ 15 | SUZ 5 | 15th | 5 |
| 1993 | Ad Racing Team Co. Ltd. | SUZ 13 | FUJ 9 | MIN 7 | SUZ Ret | AUT C | SUG 6 | FUJ C | FUJ DNS | SUZ 17 | FUJ Ret | SUZ Ret | 17th | 1 |
| 1994 | Team 5ZIGEN | SUZ 3 | FUJ 5 | MIN 7 | SUZ 11 | SUG 12 | FUJ Ret | SUZ 8 | FUJ Ret | FUJ | SUZ 10 | 7th | 6 |
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 | Tyrrell | 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 | |||||||||
| 1999 | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro | Ferrari F399 | Ferrari V10 | AUT 9 | GER 2 | HUN 12 | BEL 7 | ITA 3 | EUR Ret | MAL | JPN | 10th | 10 | |||||||||
| 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 |
Complete CART results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Rank | Points |
| 2003 | PK Racing | STP | MTY | LBH | BRH | LAU | MIL | LS | POR | CLE | TOR | VAN | ROA | MDO | MTL | DEN 14 | MIA 3 | MXC 5 | SRF 11 | FON C † | 16th | 26 |
† Cancelled due to California Fires
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete GT1 World Championship results
Complete V8 Supercar results
† Not Eligible for pointsComplete International Superstars Series results
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Points |
| 2012 | Swiss Team | Maserati Quattroporte | MNZ R1 6 | MNZ R2 16 | IMO R1 | IMO R2 | DON R1 | DON R2 | MUG R1 | MUG R2 | HUN R1 | HUN R2 | SPA R1 5 | SPA R2 3 | VAL R1 | VAL R2 | PER R1 | PER R2 | 19th | 30 |