Double Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen is refusing to rule out the prospect of further tests with McLaren.

Hakkinen, who won back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999 with the Woking team, returned to the sport for the first time in five years with a test for McLaren on Thursday.

Hakkinen, who finished last of the 18 drivers in the session in Barcelona, himself was not expecting miracles as he said: “After five years, to come back in F1 and to go very hard, flat out, I think I would make mistakes. I will have more knowledge about what tools we can use and can help more for the future. But I don’t know. We have to discuss and think about it and see what happens.”

Hakkinen finished three seconds adrift of Ferrari’s Luca Badoer by the end of the day, and far from being “a publicity stunt” as one-time owner Eddie Jordan claimed, much was learned on both sides.

Speaking to autosport.com, Hakkinen added: “We did manage to make changes, which they hadn’t done for a long time.

“The purpose was not to impress anybody enormously, it was just to get a 100% good feeling with the car and understand if it has changed a lot since 2001.

“Surprisingly, the changes were very little.”

Cheshire Online