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Lewis Hamilton has recalled the moment that former McLaren chief Ron Dennis revealed that he would be a Formula 1 driver, nearly 20 years on from the special moment.
The upcoming Canadian Grand Prix marks a return to the site of Lewis Hamilton’s maiden victory in the sport.
As a wide-eyed 22-year-old rookie, the Briton put in a monstrous performance to claim his first trip to the top step of the podium in a season where Hamilton often had to work twice as hard as McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso.
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The win was part of a nine-race podium-clinching streak that kicked off Hamilton’s F1 career, which thoroughly put a stop to any concerns that critics had regarding his readiness for a drive at a front-running team.
- READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton’s Canadian GP result will tell Ferrari everything they need to know about his future
Lewis Hamilton reveals his ‘welcome to F1’ moment with Ron Dennis in 2006
During the pre-event press conference ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Hamilton was asked to reflect on his ‘welcome to F1’ moment and what was going through his mind at the time.
For the seven-time world champion, a moment with former McLaren owner Ron Dennis immediately came to mind.
“My moment was Monza 2006,” he recalled via Pit Pass. “I’d just won the GP2 championship. We were on the grid, Kimi [Raikkonen] was on pole, and I had the privilege of going onto the grid, and I was standing in front of Kimi’s car.
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“Ron put his arm around me, and he told me, as we looked up towards turn one, ‘I’m going to give you a chance.’ That was the moment.”
Hamilton went on to describe his disbelief at the words of his future team principal, adding, “In the moment, I couldn’t quite believe it, and I didn’t know if he was like, ‘I’m going to give you a chance’… I didn’t know what it was going to be a chance at.
“That’s what I was thinking when I left. But obviously, that was the moment that he had decided that he was going to give me a chance for 2007.”
The Italian Grand Prix that year also happened to be where Michael Schumacher announced that he would be retiring from F1 at the end of the season. It turned out to be a key factor in McLaren getting Hamilton on the grid.
Raikkonen’s move to replace the legendary German driver at the Scuderia was announced later in the season, thus making Hamilton’s step up to F1 a relatively seamless process for Dennis.
- READ MORE: Lewis Hamilton is dealing with the same problem Sebastian Vettel had at Ferrari eight years later
Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll also recalled the moment that F1 came calling for them
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas were also asked the question alongside Hamilton, and both drivers gave their respective accounts of the moment.
For the Finnish driver, it was that first phone call from Sir Frank Williams that cemented him as one of Williams’ drivers for the 2013 season.
“The ‘welcome to F1’ moment for me was probably when Frank Williams told me that I’m going to be racing for Williams. That hit me pretty hard, like, that is ‘welcome to F1’. It still feels like yesterday, but it’s actually quite a few years ago now. So that’s probably my moment.”
Stroll’s moment came after his first test for Williams during his 2016 Formula 3 campaign. “My first test in Williams,” he told journalists.
“Waking up the following morning and trying to get out of my bed, and my neck was stuck. That was my first F1 memory.
“It was just like, so I won the European F3, and then it was Nürburgring, and then the next Monday I got a seat fit in the Williams, and then I tested on the Tuesday. And I remember Wednesday, I just couldn’t get out of bed. My neck was just destroyed.”
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