Lewis Hamilton stole everyone’s attention right from the word go in his rookie season in 2007. Despite having no previous F1 experience, he hit the ground running to score a podium on debut and carried on that streak. Former McLaren pit crew Marc Priestley was also part of that champion team that saw Hamilton take his first steps to become the behemoth he is today. In an exclusive conversation with The SportsRush’s Tanish Chachra, Priestley gave some insights on how the Briton’s arrival at the Woking team shaped up and took everyone by surprise.
Priestley stated, “There was mystique around him. He was an unknown trait at that point, when he came in. We’d obviously knew about him in the team. Because he had been rising through the ranks and we had been watching him.”
The 47-year-old mentioned how the team were not sure about “how good he was” despite knowing him as their junior program driver. Thus, it was a novel thing when McLaren gave him the drive for 2007. Priestley explained, “That was almost unprecedented in McLaren terms. We were a leading team that always took the best drivers around.”
The British podcaster’s point makes sense as McLaren always used to sign big names like Fernando Alonso, Ayrton Senna, and Kimi Raikkonen who had either some sort of F1 experience under their belt or were race winners and champions. Even Raikkonen had a year’s experience at Sauber when the Woking team onboarded him.
Despite that Hamilton exceeded expectations in his rookie year. He challenged the reigning champion Fernando Alonso right from his debut race. Priestley highlighted, “That’s a tall order [facing Alonso], that’s big thing to measure yourself against. And he took that all in his stride.”
Certainly like Priestley and his team, everyone was surprised when Hamilton started to match and beat Alonso regularly. Winning races and finishing ahead of the two-time champion in qualifying was a big deal for a rookie like him.
Lewis Hamilton quickly settled in as an F1 driver, says Marc Priestley
Marc Priestley was fortunate to work with Lewis Hamilton during his early years in F1. Thus, he was able to notice and understand the nuances of the British prodigy’s mindset. Besides that, unlike rookies who take time to settle in F1, Hamilton was surprisingly quick to do so.
Priestley mentioned, “Actually what really surprised everybody in a good way was how quickly he was able to grasp what it took to be a Formula 1 driver. To develop his own skills and techniques, to assess the challenges that he was facing.”
This quick grasping power perhaps helped Hamilton to straight away challenge for podiums and wins, rather than going through a learning curve like many rookies do. He had done some testing in McLaren’s cars before 2007. It is still difficult to hit the ground running and match someone like Fernando Alonso, let alone beat him. Still, Hamilton managed to do so.
Priestley also cited how the team was wondering that even if he is good, what about his longevity? He cited that they wondered whether Hamilton could “sustain that over a year, was he able to sustain that over a career.”
After 17 years today, the 47-year-old is quite content to see the #44 driver become a seven-time champion, sustaining his talent and translating it to unprecedented success.
