Johnny Herbert as Mika Hakkinen's Teammate at Lotus
How well the Brit did against the future double world champion?
Johnny Lolbert, excuse me, Johnny Herbert lost his position as a Formula 1 steward a few days ago. I suppose the FIA came to the conclusion that it does not reflect well on the governing body when one of its officials has been giving interviews to gambling sites.
Herbert has not shied away from speaking to the media, which has rubbed Jos Verstappen the wrong way to the extent that the Dutchman advised his former fellow F1 driver to avoid talking to them altogether and concentrate on his job. This advice was given when Herbert was still serving as a steward. Now, he is free to seek media attention without being frowned upon for potential conflicts of interest.
The positive aspect is that I took a moment to think about him. I reminded myself that Herbert was a decent, upper midfield Formula 1 driver in the 1990s. He won three races and was a teammate of several prominent drivers from that era.
The first of them was Mika Hakkinen.
Qualifying
In 1991, Herbert switched the role of a teammate to the rookie, and the future double world champion Hakkinen at Lotus, with Julian Bailey and Michael Bartels. He drove car number 12 in eight races, while the other two drivers participated in four grands prix each. Based on the results, I dare to say Herbert earned his job through merit, while the other two through other means.
Herbert had competed in ten races since his debut with Benetton in 1989. Hakkinen had four races on his resume, all from 1991, leading up to Canada, where they first matched up against each other in a competitive session. It didn’t start well for the Brit as he failed to qualify for the race. However, he performed significantly better one week later in Mexico, qualifying just seven hundredths of a second behind the Finn.
Herbert's confidence was undoubtedly boosted by winning Le Mans later that month (June 1991), alongside Volker Weidler and fellow Formula 1 driver Bertrand Gachot. From that point on, he continued to improve, outqualifying his rookie teammate 5-3.
In 1992, during his first full season in Formula 1, he achieved the same feat, defeating the Flying Finn 9-7.
Overall, he was 0.202% faster than Hakkinen, which raises an eyebrow. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Rubens Barrichello, and Eddie Irvine were all faster than Herbert when paired with the Brit, yet none of them has been as highly rated as Hakkinen by fans and pundits.
Races
0 – that’s the amount of points both Herbert and Hakkinen scored in the six races they competed in together in 1991 (the Finn did not qualify in France). At first glance, it appears to be a draw; however, the Brit wins on countback, as his highest finishing position was 7th place compared to his teammate's 9th. On the other hand, in head-to-head matchups, Hakkinen leads with a record of 4-2, and 2-1 when considering only the races both drivers finished.
1992 was somewhat more straightforward. Only a little bit because Herbert finished only on four occasions out of sixteen events. He was classified in Belgium; however, he retired due to an engine failure on the penultimate lap. Hakkinen on the other hand, had only six DNFs. That’s a reliability of a struggling team in the early 1990s.
Credit where credit is due: Lotus finished 5th in the standings, trailing the top dogs of Williams, McLaren, Benetton, and Ferrari, establishing themselves as the best of the rest. The team had placed 9th in 1991, so they made significant progress, with their drivers contributing a total of 13 points: Hakkinen 11 and Herbert 2, respectively.
Reduce the Finn's point total by 6, and you will have the score between him and his teammate in the four races where they both reached the chequered flag. Thus, the Finnish victory stands at 4-2 on points and 3-1 in head-to-head.
For the record, the aforementioned Frentzen, Barrichello, and Irvine also outscored Herbert during their time as his teammates at Sauber, Stewart, and Jaguar. Similarly, Jean Alesi outperformed Herbert, although, like Hakkinen, the Frenchman lost the qualifying battle.
Overall, Herbert did pretty well against the future double world champion. Not against the Hakkinen and the top of his form, of course, but it stays in the books.