Mika Abrahams is a young man with big dreams.
The Johannesburg teenager wants to be a Formula 1 driver, and plans to get there as soon as 2028. Such is his confidence in achieving his dream that it’s hard to believe that he only started racing at 10 years old.
Now aged 16, Mika has turned enough heads in the sport that he’s currently regarded as someone who has a bright future ahead of him.
Speaking to IOL Sport, the teenager, who shares the same name as two-time Formula 1 champion Mika Hakkinen, says his introduction to the sport was thanks to a video game he played while visiting a friend.
“Growing up, I never liked motorsport. I was more of a football, rugby type of person. Anything that involved a ball, I was more into. And then one night when I was 9, I went to a friend’s house and played an F1 video game.
“That same evening, I asked my dad how I could start racing, and he said he knew someone at a car track. A couple of weeks later we went to Vereeniging. I did a lap around there and I said, ‘yeah, this is for me’.”
From there, he never looked back. He impressed in local carting before making the step up to car racing in the Danish F4 Championship at the age of 14 in 2022 where he continued to turn heads with his skills as a driver. That competition in Denmark was the only one that would allow him to race F4 at the age of 14. For the others across Europe, he needed to be at least 15.
“That whole season, we had no expectations. We thought if I managed to get a top five, that will be good. I just wanted to learn and get better, develop myself as a driver. Going on debut, I won. It was so shocking. After that weekend, it changed my life because I got offers from British F4, Spanish F4, Italian F4.
“And when I kept bringing podiums to the table, when I kept on racking up wins throughout the season, more teams were interested in me. The following year, as I only turned 15 in May, it meant I would miss the first few rounds of the championship.
“We really wanted to do Italian and Spanish F4, but they only had seven races in the year, so it wasn’t really worth it logistically to miss three race and do the remaining four. But with British F4, there were 10 race and I would only miss three out of the 10 so we decided to do that and it went well.”
Racing for the Hitech Pulse-Eight team in the F4 British Championship, Mika won one race and managed a number of podium finishes in an impressive season. Next season, Mika is eyeing a step up to F3, with the ultimate goal of reaching F2 within two years.
“Next year, the plan is FIA Formula 3, but right now we’re looking at smaller F3 championships, like the British GB3, Eurocup-3, which is a slower version of the F3 car, but it races all around Europe, as well as Japan. We’re keeping our options open as there’s a lot of time until next season, so we’re doing our research, seeing which championship would benefit me the best, and we need to get sponsors, so that’s what we’re doing now. So next year’s is definitely doing what’s almost like a Formula 3.5, which if between F4 and F3.”
And if everything goes according to plan, Mika sees himself mixing it up with the big boys in Formula 1 within four years.
“I would like to be in Formula 1 by 2028. Obviously it’s a long road, it’s a tough journey, a mountain to climb. Many people think that F4 is really far away from F1, but it’s really not. It’s only three steps away.
The stuff you have to go through from F1 to F4 is quite hard, but I have an amazing team behind me who have been working really hard, as well as my parents, so all I have to do now is go deliver the results on track, so thankfully, I have done that in the past three years so, so now I just have to continue doing that. If goes to plan and we all play our part, and everything works smoothly, then 2028 is a realistic goal.“
Should he reach his goal, Mika wouldn’t be the first South African driver to reach Formula 1. That honour belongs to Jody Scheckter, who won the world championship racing for Ferrari in 1979.
Mika, however, would become the first South African of colour to reach that level, something he feels would open up a lot of doors for many others.
“Without a doubt, reaching F1 would be a special moment, but I’m not doing it just for myself. I want to bring South Africa and Africa onto the map, to pave the way and inspire other kids to believe that they can do it to. I’m doing this for myself, and for the future of motorsports in Africa. That’s (why) I’ll never stop working hard.
“When Siya Kolisi became the first black Springbok captain, it was a special moment for a lot of communities in South Africa. If I make it to Formula 1, where there are millions of drivers around the world trying to make it, that’ll be a big thing for my country.”
And as for the name, is he named after the Flying Finn Mika Hakkinen?
“Everyone asks this, but no. My dad always liked Mika Hakkinen and liked the name, but my mom chose it. It’s because of the meaning behind it. But I guess now it does correlate with Mika Hakkinen and all the famous Mikas in racing.”
IOL Sport