2002 JAMIE GREEN

OTHER FINALISTS Westley Barber, Adam Carroll, Dan Eagling, Christian England, Danny Watts

He says: “I’d done one year of car racing, in Formula Renault UK, so things were moving pretty quickly and there I was jumping into a DTM Mercedes, which I’d never really heard of. The power of that really stood out, the F3 car had lots of downforce, and it’s the only time

I’ve driven a front-wheel-drive touring car, WSR’S British Touring Car MG.

“After driving the F3 and DTM, during my first run in the MG I was off the track at Copse every lap. It was the only car with no real downforce so I was over the limit. The second run was better and I think I did a pretty decent lap time.

“I thought my biggest challenge was getting up to speed in the F3 car against people like Adam Carroll, who had done F3. I didn’t think I did as well on new tyres in the F3, but I did well on old tyres and in the other cars, and

I was quietly confident on the Awards night.

“When they called out my name I remember this feeling of, ‘Yes, I was right, I’m good enough.’ It added to my career momentum. After the DTM test, HWA called and asked if I wanted to come and drive an F3 car at Hockenheim. That’s what led to the DTM a couple of years later.

“I got my Mclaren F1 test at the end of 2004. It was quite a long wait, but that was good as

I’d done Euro F3 and some days in Mclaren’s F1 simulator. It was a shame it was on the Silverstone National circuit instead of the GP track, but the car was incredible. What struck me was how effortless it felt to go quickly.

It had lots of power, lots of grip, lots of everything. Every lap you could carry more speed into Copse. Lewis Hamilton and Alex Lloyd tested the same day and I was pretty happy with my lap times.” WHAT HAPPENED NEXT Beat Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica to 2004 F3 Euro Series crown, then switched to the DTM and has so far scored 16 wins, driving for Mercedes and Audi