Double F1 champion Mika Hakkinen trolls David Coulthard on social media about their past Austrian GP battles

As F1 is heading to Spielberg for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, teams have started preparing for the Sprint weekend. The track, even though it was absent from the calendar for a long time, was popular among fans during the late 90s.

Iconic drivers of the era have had their moments on the track, and so did Mika Hakkinen, a number of times, as he revealed on Twitter earlier.

Through his tweet, Hakkinen openly joked around with former F1 driver and teammate David Coulthard. The latter had a major role to play in the 'mixed feelings' that the former has about the track.

The two were teammates during the 1999 season at McLaren, and for that particular race, Hakkinen started on the pole with Coulthard behind him.

Right after the start of the race, Coulthard made contact with Hakkinen, putting him off in a spin, and potentially ruining any chances that he had at winning the race. Even with the backlash he had to face at the very start of the F1 GP, he managed to finish on the podium at P3, behind his teammate. Meanwhile, Eddie Irvine registered a win for Ferrari.

Mika Hakkinen added to the tweet, mentioning the race in the very next season, where he was finally able to achieve victory after starting from the pole. He tagged Coulthard again, ironically stating that he "behaved himself this time and finished 2nd."

Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard (of McLaren), and Rubens Barrichello (of Ferrari) on the podium of the 2000 F1 Austrian GP (Credits - Mark Thompson/ALLSPORT)

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Mika Hakkinen predicts a different winner than Max Verstappen at the 2023 F1 Austrian GP

The 2023 season is being completely dominated by Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Not only have they won all of the eight races of the season so far, but Verstappen has managed to win six out of them. Given that the Austrian GP is home to Red Bull, they will be expecting to enhance their performance further.

However, Mika Hakkinen predicts that things could be different for the team on this track.

Given the weather conditions that are expected to be there during the weekend, the Finnish former driver feels that RBR's performance could be hampered. He also thinks that some other driver or team could taste their first victory this season.

He feels that since Mercedes have excellent form currently (they have promised even better performance than Canada), the team could battle with Fernando Alonso to victory.