He’s won his home race a record eight times – but Lewis Hamilton was making his name among the Silverstone faithful even before he’d driven an F1 car in anger. Here, with a little help from those who know him best, we’ve named four of his feistiest British Grand Prix weekends…
WORDS STUART CODLING PICTURES
10-11 June 2006 GP2 Series
The mainstream audience was several months out from learning Lewis Hamilton’s name. But those attending the 2006 British Grand Prix got a taste of what was surely coming to Formula 1. After several years of dominance by Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, ticket sales had been on the wane and many in the crowd had at least one eye on footballing matters in Germany where, on the Saturday, England faced Paraguay in the first Group B game of the FIFA World Cup.
“Genius” was how our sister magazine Autosport described Lewis’s outstanding drives in the two GP2 Series races which formed the top of the supporting programme at Silverstone that year. “On a weekend when World Cup fever swept across the home of British motor racing, his dominance put the focus firmly back on the track and was further proof that here is a star in the making.”
In the longer feature race on Saturday, Lewis started alongside fellow Brit Adam Carroll on the front row, seized the lead from the polesitter at Copse – the first corner in those days – and remained in front despite three Safety Car periods, crossing the line 5s ahead of Timo Glock. It was a performance that would linger longer in the memory than England squeaking past Paraguay courtesy of a Carlos Gamarra own goal.
But it was Sunday’s sprint race which inked Lewis in as a bona fide future star. Since the first eight grid spots were determined by reversing the top eight finishers in the feature race, Lewis had to fight his way through from eighth – with championship nemesis Nelson Piquet Jr fifth.
Lewis had the benefit of some luck – gearbox issues for third-placed Alexendre Prémat and seventh-placed Glock meant he gained two places before dicing for fifth with Carroll throughout the opening lap. Giorgio Pantano was tougher to break but Lewis made the better restart after a Safety Car period to seize fourth.
All that lay ahead was polesitter Felix Porteiro, aided in his bid to cling on to the lead by the frenzied battle for second between Clivio Piccione and Piquet. The Brazilian drew alongside through Copse – but Hamilton slipstreamed beautifully to get a tow from each car. They went three
