By Nikki Reynolds, F1 Editor - Motorsport.com

Mika Hakkinen was notoriously less than verbal when racing in F1, often
confounding interviewers with a single word answer when they had been
expecting at least a sentence. Now retired from the sport, former double
champion Hakkinen got rather talkative on the subject of F1's current crop
of contenders.

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The ex-McLaren man's yardstick on the grid these days is his compatriot Kimi
Raikkonen and also reigning champion Michael Schumacher. Raikkonen and
Renault's Fernando Alonso have been attracting a lot of attention but
Hakkinen is doubtful about the Spaniard.

"I don't think Fernando is quite in Kimi's class," the Finn told F1 Racing
magazine. "I haven't seen anything that really justifies the level of hype
that has surrounded him so far. He's quick, but is he Kimi-quick? Is he
Michael-quick? I'm not convinced."

BAR's Jenson Button is not a driver whom Hakkinen rates particularly highly
either: "He may not be quite as quick as a lot of people think he is, Mika
remarked. "He's obviously fast, but is he super-fast? I'm not sure he is."

The media hyped Button in his first year with Williams as being the 'next
Senna', something that Hakkinen scoffs at, believing Button got too carried
away by his own publicity. "The problems start when the youngster himself
starts believing what they write. He was a beginner, not a superstar, and
I'm not sure he understood that straight away."

Two other youngsters, Button's teammate Takuma Sato and Sauber's Felipe
Massa, were judged by Mika as fast but too "wild".

As for the Williams pairing of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher,
Hakkinen was equally critical. "Ralf is much too inconsistent for someone
who's driven more than 100 grands prix," was his opinion.
"Sometimes I think
he should work a bit more and moan a bit less."

"Sometimes he can be very, very good -- Magny-Cours last year, for example.
But then, after that, even though he had no mechanical failures, he scored
only five more world championship points."

Montoya had a slightly less rough deal from Hakkinen but he said the
Colombian lacked consistency, the same as Ralf. "In 2002 he scored seven
poles, which was a fabulous performance," Hakkinen added in regard to
Montoya. "But last year he often looked slower than Ralf, especially in
qualifying."

For 2004, Hakkinen believes -- surprise, surprise -- that his protégé
Raikkonen can deprive Michael Schumacher of his seventh title. "Either
McLaren driver or either Williams driver could do it -- they all have the
experience, they all have the speed -- but only one of them has the
consistency. And that's Kimi Raikkonen."










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