Monday 13th November 1995

Mika Hakkinen left the intensive care unit after his life threatening crash during practice for the Australian Grand Prix just over a week earlier. Hakkinen suffered a punctured tire in the high-speed Brewery Bend and his McLaren arrived in the corner sideways in fifth gear. As the car spun, it hit the kerbing backwards and was launched into the air. It then hit the ground just before smashing against the wall. It later emerged that Hakkinen suffered a fracture around the base of his skull and some internal bleeding as a result. Doctors were initially worried that Hakkinen’s brain might swell inside the skull and cause brain hemorrhaging. That is what killed American F1 racer Mark Donohue two days after he crashed in Austria in August 1975. In fact, it was not a problem, and in the course of Saturday Hakkinen regained consciousness.