Lewis Hamilton’s first-ever Formula racing car has seen the light after a long time, as two motorsport enthusiasts took up the job of restoring it. It was Hamilton’s 2003 British Formula Renault car, driving which, he won that year’s Championship. Alex Thornton, a collector, bought this car and it took him two years to complete its restoration with expert Nick Edginton.
The car was gathering dust in a storeroom when Mr. Thornton found it. He spoke about how it was a “lucky coincidence” that he found it, but labeled the restoration job as a “labor of love.” Per the BBC, he stated,
“I spotted it in the back of a storeroom – it was all in bits, completely in pieces. I think it was under the stairs for about two decades; they meant to get round to restoring it themselves”.
Hamilton’s car was given on loan to the National College for Motorsport in Towcester, UK, where engineering students would learn how to disassemble and assemble a car.
A thread of #F1 drivers’ junior careers during the 2000’s:
Starting with Lewis Hamilton
2003 Formula Renault UK (1st)
2004 Bahrain Superprix (1st)
2005 Formula 3 Euro Series (1st)
2005 Masters of Formula 3 (1st)
2006 GP2 Series (1st) pic.twitter.com/Qg4iNzk5f1— F1 Icons That Go Hard (@CrystalRacing) January 4, 2019
Both Thornton and Edington know how important Hamilton’s Formula Renault car is to racing history, given it’s the seven-time World Champion’s first-ever challenger. They didn’t want it to gather dust and stay in a broken condition.
Thornton wants to put it in a museum in Stevenage, Hamilton’s hometown. But it won’t be possible as of now, since the car won’t fit through the doors. Regardless, they hope that kids take inspiration from seeing this car and take up racing, trying to emulate one of the greatest British athletes of all time.
Lewis Hamilton’s old cars are in high demand
Being a seven-time World Champion, Hamilton is an incredibly popular entity and all of his previous cars have massive collectible and heritage value. Thus, car enthusiasts like Thornton not only restore their old cars but also buy them at auctions.
The most recent example of the same is Hamilton’s Mercedes W04 – his 2013 F1 car. During the 2023 Las Vegas GP, RM Sotheby had put the car up for auction, and it was sold for $18.8 million, approximately $8 million more than its estimated valuation.
Hamilton did not win the Championship in 2013 but the car still got sold for such a huge price. This is mainly because 2013 was the start of an era. It was the Briton’s first year with the Silver Arrows, a team with whom he would go on to win six World Championships in the following seven years.
