From Ferrari Wiki

Mika Salo

Mika Salo in 2007.
FIA Super Licence Finnish
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1994 Formula One season–2000 Formula One season, 2002 Formula One season
Teams	Team Lotus, Tyrrell Racing, Arrows, British American Racing, Ferrari, Sauber, Toyota F1
Races	111 (109 starts)
List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions	0
Wins	0
Podiums	2
Career points	33
Pole position	0
Fastest lap	0
First race	1994 Japanese Grand Prix
Last race	2002 Japanese Grand Prix

Mika Juhani Salo (born November 30, 1966 in Helsinki) is a Finnish Racing driver. He competed in Formula One between 1994 Formula One season and 2002 Formula One season. His best ranking was 10th in the world championship in 1999. He also won the GT2 class in the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Formula Three and Japanese racing 1.2 Formula One 1.2.1 1994 – 1998: Lotus, Tyrrell and Arrows 1.2.2 1999: British American Racing and Ferrari 1.2.3 2000 – 2002: Sauber and Toyota 1.3 Post-Formula One 2 Personal 3 Racing record 3.1 Complete Formula One results 3.2 Complete CART results 4 References

Career

Formula Three and Japanese racing

In 1989, Salo competed in the British Formula Three Championship, racing for Alan Docking Racing. He raced with the Reynard Motorsport Toyota 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 F3, finishing second to him. In 1990, Salo was caught Driving under the influence in London.^[1] Subsequently the chance of him gaining a FIA Super Licence necessary to compete in Formula One was destroyed in the short-term. He then moved to Japan in an attempt to revive his damaged reputation.

Formula One

1994 – 1998: Lotus, Tyrrell and Arrows

After a few years racing in Japan he made his first F1 start at the penultimate round of the 1994 Formula One season season in 1994 Japanese Grand Prix for the ailing Team Lotus team. He was kept on for the season's finale in 1994 Australian Grand Prix. Following the collapse of Lotus following the end of the season, Salo moved to Tyrrell Racing for 1995 Formula One season. He was to spend three years with the team, scoring points several times. In the 1997 Monaco Grand Prix he completed the whole (rain-shortened and -slowed) race without refuelling, taking fifth place ahead of the faster Giancarlo Fisichella as a result[1]. Despite a promising 1998 Formula One season with Arrows, he had no full-time drive in 1999 Formula One season.

1999: British American Racing and Ferrari

Following an injury to British American Racing driver Ricardo Zonta, Salo did get a short-term drive with the team for three races whilst the Brazil recovered. However a greater opportunity arose when Michael Schumacher broke his leg at 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.^[2] Following the race, Irvine handed his victory trophy over to Salo as a gesture to show his gratitude. He also finished third at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, ahead of Irvine.

2000 – 2002: Sauber and Toyota

Salo was back full-time in 2000 Formula One season with Sauber, taking 11th in the championship, although he left the team at the end of the season to join the new Toyota F1 team in preparation for its F1 entry in 2002 Formula One season. 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-F1 race came at the 2003 12 Hours of Sebring, driving the UK-entered Audi R8 (race car), the same car he was due to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans if it had not ran 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 Circuit de 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 3rd 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 honors 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 Silverstone TT with Tomas 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 (AARWBA).^[3] 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.

He is now aiming for Nascar and tests are planned.^[4]

Personal

He currently resides in Monaco with his Japanese wife Noriko Salo (born Endo) and their two children, son Max and daughter Mai. His godson Jesse Krohn competes in Formula Renault, both in Scandinavia and the UK.

Like fellow Finns Keke Rosberg and JJ Lehto, both former F1 drivers, Salo has commentated on several F1 races on MTV3 and the pay-channel MTV3MAX. During the controversial 2005 United States Grand Prix, he walked out of the commentator's booth in mid-race after the Michelin teams refused to race.

Racing record

Complete Formula One results

(F1 driver results legend 2)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1994 Formula One season	Team Lotus	Team Lotus Lotus 109	Mugen Motorsports V10	1994 Brazilian Grand Prix	1994 Pacific Grand Prix	1994 San Marino Grand Prix	1994 Monaco Grand Prix	1994 Spanish Grand Prix	1994 Canadian Grand Prix	1994 French Grand Prix	1994 British Grand Prix	1994 German Grand Prix	1994 Hungarian Grand Prix	1994 Belgian Grand Prix	1994 Italian Grand Prix	1994 Portuguese Grand Prix	1994 European Grand Prix	1994 Japanese Grand Prix 10	1994 Australian Grand Prix Ret		NC	0
1995 Formula One season	Nokia Tyrrell Racing	Tyrrell Racing Tyrrell 023	Yamaha Motor Company V10	1995 Brazilian Grand Prix 7	1995 Argentine Grand Prix Ret	1995 San Marino Grand Prix Ret	1995 Spanish Grand Prix 10	1995 Monaco Grand Prix Ret	1995 Canadian Grand Prix 7	1995 French Grand Prix 15	1995 British Grand Prix 8	1995 German Grand Prix Ret	1995 Hungarian Grand Prix Ret	1995 Belgian Grand Prix 8	1995 Italian Grand Prix 5	1995 Portuguese Grand Prix 13	1995 European Grand Prix 10	1995 Pacific Grand Prix 12	1995 Japanese Grand Prix 6	1995 Australian Grand Prix 5	15th	5
1996 Formula One season	Tyrrell Racing	Tyrrell Racing Tyrrell 024	Yamaha Motor Company V10	1996 Australian Grand Prix 6	1996 Brazilian Grand Prix 5	1996 Argentine Grand Prix Ret	1996 European Grand Prix DSQ	1996 San Marino Grand Prix Ret	1996 Monaco Grand Prix 5	1996 Spanish Grand Prix DSQ	1996 Canadian Grand Prix Ret	1996 French Grand Prix 10	1996 British Grand Prix 7	1996 German Grand Prix 9	1996 Hungarian Grand Prix Ret	1996 Belgian Grand Prix 7	1996 Italian Grand Prix Ret	1996 Portuguese Grand Prix 11	1996 Japanese Grand Prix Ret		13th	5
1997 Formula One season	Tyrrell Racing	Tyrrell Racing Tyrrell 025	Ford Motor Company V8	1997 Australian Grand Prix Ret	1997 Brazilian Grand Prix 13	1997 Argentine Grand Prix 8	1997 San Marino Grand Prix 9	1997 Monaco Grand Prix 5	1997 Spanish Grand Prix Ret	1997 Canadian Grand Prix Ret	1997 French Grand Prix Ret	1997 British Grand Prix Ret	1997 German Grand Prix Ret	1997 Hungarian Grand Prix 13	1997 Belgian Grand Prix 11	1997 Italian Grand Prix Ret	1997 Austrian Grand Prix Ret	1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix 10	1997 Japanese Grand Prix Ret	1997 European Grand Prix 12	17th	2
1998 Formula One season	Danka Philip Zepter Arrows	Arrows Arrows A19	Arrows V10	1998 Australian Grand Prix Ret	1998 Brazilian Grand Prix Ret	1998 Argentine Grand Prix Ret	1998 San Marino Grand Prix 9	1998 Spanish Grand Prix Ret	1998 Monaco Grand Prix 4	1998 Canadian Grand Prix Ret	1998 French Grand Prix 13	1998 British Grand Prix Ret	1998 Austrian Grand Prix Ret	1998 German Grand Prix 14	1998 Hungarian Grand Prix Ret	1998 Belgian Grand Prix DNS	1998 Italian Grand Prix Ret	1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix 14	1998 Japanese Grand Prix Ret		13th	3
1999 Formula One season	British American Racing	British American Racing BAR 01	Supertec V10	1999 Australian Grand Prix	1999 Brazilian Grand Prix	1999 San Marino Grand Prix 7	1999 Monaco Grand Prix Ret	1999 Spanish Grand Prix 8	1999 Canadian Grand Prix	1999 French Grand Prix	1999 British Grand Prix										10th	10
	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro (cigarette)	Ferrari F399	Ferrari V10									1999 Austrian Grand Prix 9	1999 German Grand Prix 2	1999 Hungarian Grand Prix 12	1999 Belgian Grand Prix 7	1999 Italian Grand Prix 3	1999 European Grand Prix Ret	1999 Malaysian Grand Prix	1999 Japanese Grand Prix
2000 Formula One season	Red Bull Sauber	Sauber Sauber C19	Petronas V10	2000 Australian Grand Prix DSQ	2000 Brazilian Grand Prix DNS	2000 San Marino Grand Prix 6	2000 British Grand Prix 8	2000 Spanish Grand Prix 7	2000 European Grand Prix Ret	2000 Monaco Grand Prix 5	2000 Canadian Grand Prix Ret	2000 French Grand Prix 10	2000 Austrian Grand Prix 6	2000 German Grand Prix 5	2000 Hungarian Grand Prix 10	2000 Belgian Grand Prix 9	2000 Italian Grand Prix 7	2000 United States Grand Prix Ret	2000 Japanese Grand Prix 10	2000 Malaysian Grand Prix 8	11th	6
2002 Formula One season	Panasonic Toyota F1	Toyota F1 Toyota TF102	Toyota F1 V10	2002 Australian Grand Prix 6	2002 Malaysian Grand Prix 12	2002 Brazilian Grand Prix 6	2002 San Marino Grand Prix Ret	2002 Spanish Grand Prix 9	2002 Austrian Grand Prix 8	2002 Monaco Grand Prix Ret	2002 Canadian Grand Prix Ret	2002 European Grand Prix Ret	2002 British Grand Prix Ret	2002 French Grand Prix Ret	2002 German Grand Prix 9	2002 Hungarian Grand Prix 15	2002 Belgian Grand Prix 7	2002 Italian Grand Prix 11	2002 United States Grand Prix 14	2002 Japanese Grand Prix 8	17th	2

Complete CART results

(American Open Wheel driver results legend) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2003 CART World Series season	KV Racing	2003 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg	2003 Tecate Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix	2003 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	2003 London Champ Car Trophy	2003 German 500	2003 Milwaukee Mile Centennial 250	2003 Grand Prix of Monterey	2003 G.I. Joe's 200	2003 U.S. Bank Cleveland Grand Prix	2003 Molson Indy Toronto	2003 Molson Indy Vancouver	2003 Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America	2003 Champ Car Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio	2003 Molson Indy Montreal	2003 Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver 14	2003 Grand Prix Americas (Champ Car race) 3	2003 Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante 5	2003 Lexmark Indy 300 11	2003 King Taco 500 NH	16th	26

References

Vec:Mika Salo