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Mika Salo
Born: 30.11.66
Birthplace:Helsinki, Finland
Team: Toyota
2006 Car Number: 24
Last Season: Didn't Race |
GP Pedigree (After the Japanese GP)
Starts: 95
Victories: 0
Poles: 0
Fastest Laps: 0
Points: 33
GP Debut: 1994, Japanese GP, Lotus-Honda, 10th
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When they needed someone with a wealth of experience of Formula One to help in thbeir debut season, Toyota turned to Mika Salo.
With getting on for 100 GP starts behind him in six different teams, Salo knows what it is like to race many of the current circuits, often with the not the most competitive of machinery.
A star in his native Finland in the late 1980s, he even got the better of Michael Schumacher during a competitive European Formula Ford Championship in 1988.
However, he had to wait till near the end of the 1994 season to get his Formula One debut with the fading Lotus team.
He drove a typically competent race at Suzuka to finish 10th and won a three-year deal driving for Tyrrell.
He picked up points every year for the middle-ranking team and was especially successful over the streets of Monte Carlo where he made the top six in successive years.
When the Tyrrell team changed into Stewart Racing, Salo found himself out and took up an offer to drive for Tom Walkinshaw's Arrows.
Again he collected points but at the start of the 1999 season he was without a full-time drive again though he deputised brilliantly at Ferrari after Schumacher's serious crash in the British Grand Prix.
He raced six times for the Prancing Horse and would surely have won the German GP but after leading for much of the way, he moved aside to allow team-mate Eddie Irvine to collect the victory.
Salo made then podium again at Monza before Schuamcher returned after injury and Salo moved to Sauber for the 2000 season.
The Finn was in the points in four GPs but was overlooked the following season by the Swiss team who opted to bring in his younger compatriot Kimi Raikkonen.
So Salo spent the year test driving the new Toyota and with a strong F1 background, Salo should provide the ideal foil to the newcomer Allan McNish.
Formula One Career:
| 2002:
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GP with Toyota |
| 2001:
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Test driver with Toyoya |
| 2000:
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GP with Sauber - 5th in Germany, Monaco, 6th in Austria, San Marino (6 points - 11th in championship) |
| 1999:
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GP with Ferrari (six races) and BAR (three races) - second in Germany, third in Italy (10 points - 10th in championship) |
| 1998:
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GP with Arrows – fourth in Monaco (3 points - 13th in championship) |
| 1997:
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GP with Tyrrell - fifth in Monaco (2 points - 16th in championship) |
| 1996:
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GP with Tyrrell - 5th in Brazil, Monaco, 6th in (5 points - 13th in championship) |
| 1995:
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GP with Tyrrell - 5th in Italy, Australia, 6th in Japan (5 points - 14th in championship |
| 1994:
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GP with Lotus-Honda - (No points) |
Background:
| 1993:
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All-Japan Formula 3000 Championship with Reynard
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| 1992:
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Third in All-Japan Formula 3000 Championship with Reynard
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| 1991:
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All-Japan Formula 3000 Championship with Reynard and Lola
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| 1990:
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Second in the British Formula Three Championship and second in Macau Formula Three GP with Ralt
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| 1989:
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13th in British Formula Three Championship with Reynard
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| 1988:
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First in European Formula Ford Championship, Scandinavian Formula Ford Championship and Finnish Formula Ford Championship with Van Diemen
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