With seven F1 world titles and 103 race wins to his name, Lewis Hamilton is an inspiration to many. As much as he’s the most popular F1 driver on the planet currently, his celebrity status is also beyond believable. So much so that he at times starstruck the opposition, as revealed by Alex Albon recently.
The Williams driver lately opened up on his first meeting with Hamilton and how he was starstruck by the magnificent F1 pilot. When asked, the Thai driver stated, “For sure I have. I think most of these were when I was a kid.”
“Have you ever been star struck by a celebrity?”
Alex Albon: “Lewis Hamilton!!🤩” pic.twitter.com/gU51j4lklS
— leo🐋 (@albonscar) April 21, 2023
“When someone like Lewis. When he came to our racetrack and that was kind of it,” the Williams pilot further stated. Albon concluded his praise for the seven-time world champion with, “He was the hotshot back then.”
Interestingly, Albon is the ex-Red Bull driver who drove alongside Verstappen. Being from a rival team and driven alongside Hamilton‘s rivals, it takes more than just race wins to have such a huge impact on drivers, and the confession, of course.
Why was Hamilton a hotshot back then?
The footage where Albon said that Hamilton was the celebrity who starstruck him back in the day, is from Hamilton’s McLaren era. Going by the race suit the Briton was wearing, it was clear that he was with the British team.
The Stevenage-born McLaren era was special. After former Woking-based team’s honcho, Ron Dennis signed him and eventually landed him a seat in 2007, there were huge expectations from him.
A win for Lewis Hamilton #OnThisDay in 2011 at the Chinese Grand Prix, beating both Red Bulls to claim P1. 🏆
This made him the first F1 driver to win here twice. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/aQUk6jIOP5
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 17, 2023
As the young driver arrived in the team, he was placed right beside the two-time world champion and the defending F1 champion Fernando Alonso back then. But the Briton didn’t rattle as he went wheel-to-wheel against Alonso and gave him a run for his money.
In his first season itself, he was tied on points with his world-champion teammate and lost the championship by just a point. However, Hamilton made sure he picks the championship the very next year in 2008. With just two years in the sport and a championship and runners-up tag, Lewis Hamilton was huge.
Is Hamilton the best driver of all time?
When it comes to people’s perception, it’s hard to say if the seven-time world champion is the best driver to have graced the sport. Since people also prefer to call Michael Schumacher or Ayrton Senna the greatest of all time.
Furthermore, to a lot of people Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso or Max Verstappen is also the best in the world. However, Hamilton, an inspiration to many is a league above due to his mind-blowing statistics.
Despite everything, the 38-year-old is surely the best driver of F1 when it comes to statistics. Apart from seven championships, the Mercedes star also has 103 race wins, 103 pole positions, and 192 podiums, which is the maximum for a driver.
