Lewis Hamilton is famous for blistering performances with Mercedes, winning six of his seven F1 World Championships with the Brackley-based team. However, his early career at McLaren is rarely spoken of. In fact, there are many among the F1 social media community that don’t know of his championship with McLaren in 2008!
The British star spent his early years with McLaren’s Ron Dennis, whom he joined at the age of 13! In 2007, he was promoted to an F1 seat, where he stayed until 2012 when he eventually made his move to Mercedes. Recently, McLaren racer Lando Norris claimed that Lewis’ love for his former team is still evident.
Lando Norris talks about Lewis Hamilton’s feelings about McLaren
Lando Norris recently commented in an interview on Lewis’ feelings towards the team he began with, McLaren Racing. The team has seen many prominent names form their lineup, including Lewis’ hero, Ayrton Senna!
Lando Norris says that Lewis Hamilton's love for #McLaren is still very strong:
“He still has a very strong respect and love for McLaren. He wants us to do well and it is something very nice to see…”#F1 #Formula1 #Mercedes #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/jlNKyBYiNx
— McLaren F1 News 🏴🇦🇺 (@TheMcLarenZone) August 20, 2023
According to Lando, Lewis still feels like he “owes” something to the Woking-based team. In an interview with Racing News 365, the Mclaren driver stated: “He (Lewis Hamilton) still has a very strong respect and love for McLaren. He wants us to do well and it’s a very nice thing to see, as it was the place where he started his career.”
Continuing, Lando elaborated: “You always have that feeling, thinking that you owe something to the team with which you took your first steps.” He even went on to claim that it was the 7-time world champion who motivated a younger Lando to join Formula 1. Given their shared British heritage, this is not surprising.
What’s more, Lewis’ time at McLaren was far from unsuccessful. He lost the championship by only one point in 2007, and actually bagged it in 2008!
Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 team
It is almost unheard of for a rookie driver to bag a race win in his first season of Formula 1. But to bag 6 wins, beat the reigning world champion in the same car, and lose out on the world championship only by one point? Lewis Hamilton is the only one in recent decades to make this claim, highlighting the talent Ron Dennis saw in him.
Coming into 2007, Lewis was told to “not take it personally” if he could not match up to his teammate Fernando Alonso’s performances, who was the reigning world champion at the time. Lewis took this with a pinch of salt, going on to not only beat Alonso but almost take the 2007 drivers’ title himself!
Come 2008, he won his first world driver’s title in Brazil, with only a few corners left of the race, much to the grief of “30-second world champion” Felipe Massa.
While he had some noteworthy performances between 2009 to 2012, Lewis’s McLaren could not keep up with Vettel’s dominance at the time. In 2013, the driver finally made the switch to Mercedes, a career move that shocked the world at the time, but proved them wrong within a couple of seasons!
Do you agree with Lando’s statement? Can Lando recreate the glory Lewis brought to McLaren? Comment what you think down below!
