Lewis Hamilton's incredible single-seater debut - told by team members

F1

Lewis Hamilton made a momentous single-seater debut with Manor in 2001 – key team members remember his debut and subsequent success in Motor Sport's October 2024 edition

Lewis Hamilton’s commitment was apparent in his first single-seater drives in 2001.

Hamilton announced himself quickly on first single-seater test

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Motor Sport

Seismic debut tests are the stuff of racing legend. Ayrton Senna announcing himself at the wheel of a Williams at Donington in 1983, Kimi Räikkönen nonchalantly impressing in a 2000 Sauber – having only raced a Formula Renault car before – or more recently Kimi Antonelli blasting the field away in a wet F3 session.

In this month’s magazine, Motor Sport speaks to those who were part of Lewis Hamilton’s first single-seater team, and were witness to how the young racing prodigy made his mark on track immediately at Mallory Park on October 17 2001.

After pluckily approaching Ron Dennis at the 1995 Autosport Awards and subsequently being signed up as a McLaren junior, Hamilton had risen through the karting ranks before it was time to make the jump to racing cars.

In 2003, Hamilton was unstoppable in FRenault – here at Snetterton

Junior soon proved to be a winner in cars as well as karts

Jakob Ebrey

McLaren placed Hamilton with Manor, partly on the basis that Räikkönen had mopped up the 2000 Formula Renault UK series with the team.

First up though was a preliminary test at Mallory Park in the East Midlands. Could Hamilton prove himself in the the Tatuus FRenault car? He would, and then some.

From the archive

“You’ve got to bear in mind that this guy had never driven a car before, even a road car,” says then-Manor team manager Tony Shaw. “I remember Marc having to drive him around and teach him how a clutch worked! It was really in at the deep end for him, especially using the gear lever and all that sort of stuff.

“You could tell straight away he wasn’t scared of it. It was a fairly bumpy experience at Mallory, especially into the first corner – there was a big old jump into there that set the car leaping about a bit.”

The precocious Hamilton was near the pace straight away. As a result, Shaw wasn’t the only one impressed. Veteran manager Booth was also taken aback by what he saw, despite a small hiccup.

“I said first time round, ‘Bloody hell this lad is confident!’” Booth remembers. “He wasn’t flat into Gerards, but he was bloody on it, really on it. For somebody who hadn’t really driven a road car or a gearbox kart, his gear changes were spot-on. Unfortunately he then lost it, and took the back of the car off.

Fresh out of karts, here’s Hamilton at 16 in the 2001 Formula Renault Winter Series at Rockingham – his first single-seater race

Here’s Hamilton at 16 in the 2001 Formula Renault Winter Series at Rockingham – his first single-seater race

“We set about rebuilding it, and it took the best part of the day to get everything back together. I think we got him out for the last hour, and the very first lap, he was right on it again. No nerves or concerns, just really confident and right back on it. The guy was bloody quick.”

Hamilton had turned heads, not just at the top end of the Manor squad, but throughout the team.

“He was outstanding, you could tell straight away,” said mechanic Simon Finnis to The Yorkshire Post in 2021.

From the archive

“The potential he had was phenomenal, we all recognised straight away that he had more than anyone we’d ever seen before. There was a huge amount of natural talent there.”

And Hamilton proved so. Winning races in his first Formula Renault UK campaign in 2002, he then dominated the series in 2003 with ten wins. Having wrapped up the title early, Hamilton withdrew from the final two races of the season and ended the year in F3.

“He was a good kid to work with,” added Finnis, “a real racer, loved the racing side of it, wheel-to-wheel racing, battling with the other drivers.

“He worked very hard, he was prepared to put that work in. He and John (Booth) got on very well, but he fitted in very well with the team. Some drivers keep themselves to themselves, but Lewis was very popular. The team was based around success and he brought great success to the team.

“Despite all the external pressures, he had the talent and he knew that in time he would crack it, and once he got all the skills and learnt how to get the most out of the car he never looked back.”

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