The best way to predict the future is to create it. Former F1 world champion saw this capability in Lewis Hamilton alongside his hunger and ambition. The Briton’s engineers are always praising him regarding his driving style and the feedback that he gives. However, the former driver just looked at Hamilton’s telemetry data and knew how great of a driver the Brit could become.
Lewis Hamilton impressed everyone in the F1 paddock when he won the GP2 championship in his first season back in 2006. The following year, McLaren signed the Briton, and the rookie shocked the paddock again. Hamilton finished 1 point behind the champion and on equal points with two-time champion teammate Fernando Alonso. After winning the Championship in 2008, things got interesting in 2010 when Jenson Button signed with McLaren.
Jenson Button joined McLaren as the reigning World Champion. Button was confident in himself to beat Hamilton. But as the season went through, Button started realizing Hamilton’s true potential. The former British driver looked at the now 38-year-old’s telemetry details back then, and it surprised him. Jenson Button has now revealed that back then he wrote a message to his dad. Jenson Button also told the media that Lewis is amongst the fastest drivers that F1 has ever witnessed.
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According to motorsportmagazine.com, Jenson Button suggested that he wrote to his dad, “If ever Lewis works out how to get the best from himself and the engineers, the rest of us might as well go home.” and publically told the media “Lewis is one of the fastest drivers the sport has ever seen.”
Jenson Button predicted Lewis Hamilton’s bright future back in the starting years of the now seven-time world champions career. Lewis Hamilton is definitely the best driver of the decade and arguably the best of all time. Fernando Alonso also noticed the greatness in Lewis and was the only driver on the grid that worried him.
Lewis Hamilton was the only driver, Fernando Alonso worried about
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During his Ferrari days, Fernando Alonso came close to winning the championship twice. Although Sebastian Vettel took both championships, a former member of Ferrari revealed how Lewis Hamilton was the only driver Alonso was worried about. The Spaniard learned his lesson from the days at Mclaren and identified the Briton as the biggest threat.
According to motorsportmagazine.com, a former senior Ferrari man said, “Lewis was the only other driver, Fernando [Alonso] worried about. Yes, other drivers might have been in faster cars and he’d accept that. But on a Grand Prix weekend whenever you’d discuss the challenges, it was only ever Hamilton that Fernando referenced as being a threat, solely because of what he could deliver as a driver.”
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What do you make of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso’s comments on Hamilton?