The 2025 F1 grid is historic in the sense that it features as many as five rookies making their F1 debuts. That said, when it comes to being media-trained, these drivers are anything but rookies. While some of them may share a trait of shyness, their teams—aware of the sport’s global appeal—have ensured they stay in line with their respective PR strategies.
But this notion of drivers always toeing the party line is a relatively recent development. In fact, an anecdote about rookie Lewis Hamilton back in 2007 proves just that, as revealed by former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley.
Priestley recently appeared on the Fast and the Curious podcast to preview the upcoming Miami GP, where the hosts quizzed the Briton about his time with Hamilton at the Woking-based team. Priestley kicked things off with a standout story about the #44 driver.
He recalled a time when Hamilton’s announcement as a rookie for McLaren coincided with the entire team flying to Finland for a team-building exercise just before the start of the new season.
Upon hearing this, Hamilton decided to fly all the way to Scandinavia to introduce himself and bond with the team. But when he arrived at the Finnish Olympic Institute, where everyone was staying, he realized the team had wrapped up for the day and were unwinding in the sauna.
“Lewis, without a hesitation, just got himself stripped down and came [into the sauna] and introduced himself to us all,” revealed the 48-year-old collecting a swarm of laughter from the hosts of the podcast.
Marc Priestly, ex-Mclaren Mechanic, sharing the story of when him and the McLaren race team first met Lewis Hamilton
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Always confident in himself and how he carried himself, this wasn’t something Priestley expected from someone who hadn’t even made his F1 debut. Safe to say, it’s not the kind of gesture you’d expect from most newcomers in today’s F1.
“The day that I first met him we were naked in a sauna in Finland so, sorry yeah, we got to know each other quite well,” Priestley jokingly added.
The youthful exuberance and flamboyance that defined Hamilton in his early days quickly translated into phenomenal on-track performances. Just as he fearlessly walked into the sauna, he showed no hesitation going wheel-to-wheel with reigning two-time world champion Fernando Alonso during his rookie season in 2007.
He pushed the Spaniard to his limits, finishing level on points and just one behind eventual world champion Kimi Raikkonen— a campaign widely regarded as the greatest rookie season in F1 history.
Looking back, Priestley should’ve known exactly what to expect from the man who’s now 40.
