When Hakkinen told Senna he needed ‘bigger balls’

Mika Hakkinen became synonymous with McLaren in Formula 1, but on his debut for the team in late-1993 he was the young upstart ruffling the feathers of another of the team’s icons. As Ayrton Senna pondered a future away from McLaren, Hakkinen came in for the final three races of the year to replace Michael Andretti, and promptly out-qualified his illustrious team-mate first time out. But what started out as a chance to poke fun at the three-time world champion quickly turned into an opportunity to learn some serious lessons about what it takes to be a top-line F1 driver – providing your balls are big enough!