“There was a buzz surrounding Hamilton”

Exactly 17 years ago, in the autumn of 2002, I travelled to Donington Park for the final round of the British Touring Car Championship. It was my first major meeting as a burgeoning, young reporter for

Motorsport News and I was being shown the ropes by racing editor (now esteemed editor) Matt James. I was amazed at how many people he chatted to.

As we walked around the support paddock, featuring categories such as Formula Ford and British GT, Matt would stop to talk to everyone: team bosses, drivers, tyre fitters, suppliers – there was no one he didn’t know.

It became a memorable weekend thanks to two people he introduced me to in the Formula Renault paddock. The first was Marc Hynes, the 1999 British F3 champion who won the title with John Booth’s Manor Motorsport team. Hynes was back working at the team that weekend with their latest young driver, Lewis Hamilton. Lewis was only 17 at the time and I remember him being quite shy. But he had about him a steely persona. That weekend he dominated the first of two Formula Renault races from pole, setting up a titlewinning campaign the following year.

Today, Marc Hynes still works closely with Hamilton and his business card reads: Project 44 – after the Mercedes driver’s race number.

Back in 2002, there was a buzz surrounding Hamilton, and his route to Formula 1 – thanks in part to his links with Mclaren – was a given. But no one would have quite believed then that he would go on to be one of the greatest grand prix drivers of all time. Hamilton is closing in on his sixth drivers’ title, to be just one behind Michael Schumacher’s all-time record.

Yet unlike Schumacher, Hamilton’s career hasn’t been blighted by on-track controversy. He’s never resorted to dirty driving and has always been fair in wheelto-wheel combat. Another aspect of Hamilton’s driving – which is so impressive – are the few times he makes a mistake or hits the wall. You can count on one hand the shunts he’s had in the past few years. But it wasn’t always the case.

Looking back 17 years, I came across an interview I did with John Booth who was talking about Hamilton’s speed and skill, but propensity for incidents too. He crashed on his fourth lap at his first ever Formula Renault test and was concussed in big hits early into his Formula 3 days too. But they were immediately put behind him.

“The car held no fear for him,” said

Booth who also recalled a winter test where he was “stupidly quicker” than everyone else, “by 1.5 seconds…”

Perhaps, in 2002, we shouldn’t have been so surprised he’d be as good as he has been.