Scuderia Ferrari Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton opened up about a challenging period in his junior racing career that threatened to derail his path to Formula 1. He also mentioned his current team principal, Fred Vasseur, who played a key role in his early racing days.
Ahead of this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Hamilton recalled a particularly stressful period of his junior career when he competed in Formula 3 in 2005 for the McLaren-backed ASM Formule 3 team, which was headed by Vasseur. The seven-time world champion was eager to progress toward F1 and regularly contacted Martin Whitmarsh, then a senior McLaren figure, asking when he would get a chance to drive an F1 car.
That year was particularly difficult because Hamilton, who was 20 at the time, lost his McLaren contract while trying to move into the newly launched GP2 series. He described that as one of the most challenging periods of his life. However, he returned to F3, won his next races and ultimately regained McLaren's backing. Speaking about the episode, he said:
"I worked with Fred (Vasseur) in Formula 3, 2005 I think it was. It was an interesting period of time for me in my life. I was obviously, as every young kid, in a rush to get to Formula 1, hoping that I could potentially get there and never know when that chance would come.
Lewis Hamilton
#challenging
Ahead of this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Hamilton recalled a particularly stressful period of his junior career when he competed in Formula 3 in 2005 for the McLaren-backed ASM Formule 3 team, which was headed by Vasseur. The seven-time world champion was eager to progress toward F1 and regularly contacted Martin Whitmarsh, then a senior McLaren figure, asking when he would get a chance to drive an F1 car.
That year was particularly difficult because Hamilton, who was 20 at the time, lost his McLaren contract while trying to move into the newly launched GP2 series. He described that as one of the most challenging periods of his life. However, he returned to F3, won his next races and ultimately regained McLaren's backing. Speaking about the episode, he said:
"I worked with Fred (Vasseur) in Formula 3, 2005 I think it was. It was an interesting period of time for me in my life. I was obviously, as every young kid, in a rush to get to Formula 1, hoping that I could potentially get there and never know when that chance would come.
Lewis Hamilton
#challenging
2 days ago
