Lewis Hamilton joined McLaren in 2007, who at the time were a top team in Formula 1. Ron Dennis, who was McLaren’s boss at the time, appointed a rookie driver to lead this title charge, which surprised many people, including former F1 mechanic Marc Priestley.
In an exclusive interview with The SportsRush’s Tanish Chachra, Priestley, who worked at McLaren at that time, spoke about how Hamilton’s appointment shocked many. Other than the fact that Hamilton was a rookie, the availability of several, more experienced talents on the market, made this decision baffling.
“It was surprising in all honesty,” he said. “And I remember that winter of that year before he started (the end of 2006 ahead of 2007). We knew that Kimi [Raikkonen] had left us and gone to Ferrari and so we had this vacant seat. We knew Fernando Alonso was coming as the current world champion, so everyone assumed he’s the lead driver.”
Priestley then mentions figures like Pedro de La Rosa, who were internally preferred over Hamilton, mainly because of his experience of driving with them in the past. He goes on to say that Lewis Hamilton was “an unknown”.
However, there was an air of excitement surrounding the move. Their prediction and feelings regarding this excitement turned out to be accurate in the end.
Lewis Hamilton’s reputation at McLaren before joining
McLaren wanted to be world champions and they knew they would be fighting with Ferrari for it. Their former driver Kimi Raikkonen had just moved to the Maranello-based stable, and even though reigning two-time title winner Fernando Alonso joined them, defeating Ferrari would be difficult.
This is why a rookie Lewis Hamilton’s appointment surprised Marc Priestley and Co. But that isn’t to say that they had no idea who Hamilton was. Priestley admitted to having known a lot about the talent and racing pedigree Hamilton brought to McLaren.
“Lewis through his younger career, had been a real go-getter,” he adds. This was in reference to Hamilton approaching McLaren boss Ron Dennis at the age of 13, asking for an F1 seat.
Hamilton’s 2007 season was one for the history books. He went toe to toe with Alonso, and almost won the world title, losing by just one point to Raikkonen. He proved that it was no fluke just a year later, winning the 2008 world championship, his first of six.
