Lewis Hamilton's exceptional junior career

this video was brought to you by surf shark [Music] you wouldn't expect rc cars to be the starting point for the career of one of the greatest drivers of all time but for lewis hamilton that's exactly where it started at least from a competitive standpoint it was in terms of where it really began it was bots on a family holiday when lewis was introduced to a local kitty cart track the circuit itself was barely 60 meters long but that was enough to give lewis the racing bug i mean maybe he was only three years old at the time but in terms of competitive stuff we end up back with him remote control cars after receiving an rc car for his fifth birthday it set the wheels in motion and it got to a point where father anthony decided okay yeah let's get you into some serious comp here and so after joining a local club in stevenage lewis began competing in competitions with a degree of success and after a successful year in 92 lewis and his pops went to right house to try out some go-karts i mean hey treating yourself is all important so this was the way to go issue for anthony is that lewis was hooked on the ship he loved carting he wanted more of it and on christmas he got his wish when santy claus gave him a present in the form of his first go-kart he was about to transition out of rc racing and onto the karting scene good thing karting is cheap harley you you something is wrong with you and so beginning his career at wright house the next year lewis was immediately on the pace after a couple years of learning the ropes growing and honing his craft he won the british cadet championship in 95. it was during that year as well when lewis attended the sport awards dinner in london his father anthony realised the importance of being in a room full of motor racing hierarchy and legions and so forth and so gave lewis an autograph book with spaces for contact deets and effectively told lewis to get as many as he could eventually they scoped out ron dennis heads of the mclaren formula one team when i met ron dennis i asked for his autograph in my autograph book i asked for him to put his address down and um his phone number and he he wrote in the autograph book um phone me in nine years and we'll sort something out then and that was important i mean now it's infinitely worse but money has always been a problem in motorsport especially if you're like the hamilton's and you're not exactly rolling in money anthony was working multiple jobs just to make any of this a possibility context and sponsorship are vital toward making any motor racing venture happen as well as putting food on the table which is why this video was sponsored by surfshark yeah yet this may sound like a typical blur but you know as well as i that our internet reliance has been rapidly increasing from streaming our favorite shows to keeping in touch with our loved ones thank you very much lockdown and even our banking is pretty much mainly done online nowadays we'd like to think that our 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nico rosberg and believe it or not these two were legitimate best buddies no lie at the 1998 german grand prix a plan was attached to put nico and lewis on a karting team called team nbm dennis told both of them about the plans and asked if they were going to co-exist with each other in the same team their response without hesitation was yes all of this sounds so alien nowadays given what happened in 14 15 and 16 but then again this was 1998 and this wasn't formula one they weren't exactly fighting for the world championship back then or anything except they were lewis would win the world cutting cup at motegi in japan as well as the european karting championship in the year 2000. curiously he was never able to capture the world cutting championship but then again nico didn't win it either i don't know why but whatever the case mclaren was still firmly in his corner and by 2001 it was time for lewis to enter the car racing scene signing on to race with mana in the formula renault uk winter series at the age of 16. he was the youngest driver to race in that series at the time the grid was pretty strong with drivers such as robel jamie green and will carting champion colin brown taking to the grid overall it wasn't an awe-inspiring amazing season for him then again none of the expected champions to be ever got to be the champion but it was a good learning stepping stone whatever you call it heading into his first full-on season in 2002 despite obliterating his teammates winning three races that season and finishing p3 overall in his first season ahead of some pretty credible names he was struggling off the track despite being just a whisker away from vice champion status he had questions regarding his future was this all worth it could he actually make it work well in 2003 he got his answer when after a slow start by his reckoning he absolutely blitzed the field from silverstone onwards every race he finished he won and the field was still plenty strong this year as well things were looking pretty good for the kid from stevenage but then came time for him to step up to the formula 3 euro series over there he was going to be in amongst some big fish and it would be a place where mana wasn't the best team around not that it would stop him from winning a race at the norris ring securing four podiums and finishing p5 overall just behind best buddy nico but within the team there was a little bit of unrest and this became a problem with his main backers at mclaren who wanted lewis to remain with manor for the next season but he wanted none of it he wanted to move on to another team that would give him a better shot at the title the solution he left mclaren walking away from that type of deal over something like that seemed tantamount to career suicide at the macau grand prix still remaining with manor he managed to scrape a sponsorship deal together and put his car on the pole but heading into lisboa race leader nico rosberg locked up his brakes and went straight on into the wall lewis who was directly behind him followed him into the barrier as a mark of respect although this meant among other things that he wouldn't win the race and absolutely ruined his chances of some commercial wowzers and that sucked eggs because now with one race left in his itinerary lewis was left without a mclaren contract barely scraping a budget together apparently and now he's crashed out of the macau grand prix whilst in a strong position it's hard to recover your career from that obviously he was dejected but he was now headed to the bahrain super pre with a drive fully funded by mana themselves out of the goodness of their hearts and boy did it pay off lewis came from the back of the field to take the win an outstanding drive and one that caught the attention of mclaren who welcomed him back into the team with open arms he would return to the formula three euro series still with the endeavour to be in the best team possible now for some people that may sound a little sus oh he only won cause he's in the best team timeout mate most drivers nowadays want to be in teams like prema for a reason let's not be stupid about this you want to give yourself the best opportunity possible because like it or not these spec series are anything but equal but the point is the best way to make yourself look like a million bucks to formula one bosses is to cross that finish line first no point being stupid and putting yourself into a donkey team that naive bravado will literally get you nowhere so lewis signed up with signature alongside adrian sutil and what followed was well the one word that could describe it was domination out of the 20 races that season lewis won 15 of them he had won at every single circuit he raced at yeah signature had dominated that year with suitable finishing second overall with two wins under his belt but there is no denying just how damn well lewis drove that year he also won the masters of formula 3 at zanvort and a time before it became a permanent place of worship for max verstappen it pretty much went about as well as it could get that year what it also meant was that he would graduate to gp2 for 2006 driving with art he was now just one step below formula one his absolute dream he can actually do this that year he would be teamed up with alexandra pramar who was a damn good driver in his own right and baldi locks would back that up by finishing p3 overall in the standings ahead of timo glock go on cue the meme i'm so sick and tired of that god damn tired man but despite irt having won the previous year's championship with nico rosberg a lot of the attention was put upon nelson pique jr and before the season he looks set to be on the path to formula one where he would actually get to and be primarily remembered for one thing and with four wins that year which included a barnstorming run from hungary to istanbul he pushed heavily for that title but he wouldn't win it because instead it was the boy from stevenage who put on some momentous performances which entailed a clean sweep at the nurburgring and silverstone as well as winning on the streets of monaco to help him win the title it was a fantastic season all round but the race that season that stuck out the most was the feature race at istanbul after starting p7 he was settling in for an interesting race as at that point championship rival pk was just ahead of him on track he didn't make life easy for himself when he spun off on lap two flicks spinning into the path of unsuspecting pay drivers whose reactions vary wildly based on their moves and rejoined the race back down in p19 right down the rear of the grid in a 23 light race that was pretty much race over from in terms of a win or a podium like maybe he can salvage some points with some determination either way he needed to try something because at that point pk was still there and he was still in the hunt for the title well by lap nine he was into the points unsettlingly quickly even for someone as rapid as he was at this rate he could charge through overtake pk take the lead from zuba lap the field overthrow the turkish government declare a new world order frankly this was astonishing he would eventually finish in second place after some insanely good moves and racecraft which made the world stand up and take notice this wasn't just a great drive by gp2 standards this was a great drive full stop and it highlighted exactly why his junior career was as impressive as it was i mean take a look at these stats here and five full seasons of junior formula racing this is what he achieved you could argue about those teams all you want but there is a reason why i bought up that istanbul drive it didn't matter if he was in the best team or not the skill was so blim and evident that it didn't warrant further explanation and ron dennis thought this too at the beginning of the year lewis himself reckoned that he might be ready for formula one come 2007. boy beating his chest here of course the proposition of a new talent entering a top team like mclaren was pretty damn unlikely it very rarely happens in this game but when kimi raikkonen left the ferrari and juan pablo montoya left uh the whole damn sport it left two vacancies at the team after mclaren didn't have the guts to bring pedro de la rosa on board full-time one seat was filled by the lord of the eyebrows and the other was filled by yeah well done dora the explorer the rest as is so often said was history he is now a seven-time champion of the world he is statistically at least the greatest there ever was i mean yeah i maintain there is no goat as ichira varies way too much to draw a fair comparison and the fact he's been in an op car for years as frustrating to the average earthling as he sails off into the distance but when all said and done it's extremely hard to argue against his greatness he is that damn good it's a greatness that is only really matched by michael jordan or eating cereal at night love him or hate him this dude is special he's proven it in formula one he proved it in the junior series that came before it and he proved it back in casting and it's kind of remarkable when you think about it that this all really started through a hobby that he picked up as a five-year-old funny how life works hey anyways thank you all for watching drop a comment below subscribe to the channel if you're awesome and always remember keep it respectful be wholesome don't be a man and as always i'll see you all later [Music] [Music] i

Channel: Josh Revell

Views: 502,878

Keywords: Lewis Hamilton, Hamilton, F1, Formula 1, Formula One, Sir Lewis Hamilton

Id: QS27rqRhS-o

Length: 12min 14sec (734 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 21 2021