Brandon Chrasta

Who are the OG YouTubers you grew up watching?

Here’s a lesser known story about Lewis Hamilton - Lewis Hamilton’s first Formula 1 test came on 19 September 2006 at Silverstone. After his opening run, McLaren teammate Pedro de la Rosa’s race engineer was cautious in his assessment, saying, “The boy will need to improve a lot over the years. It’s a long road for Lewis, but he will be good. We just have to give him time.” What followed changed that view almost immediately. On his second run, Hamilton set the fastest time. De la Rosa later explained how his speed stood out straight away. “He was so fast through Copse, Becketts, Maggots that I immediately realised the potential of Lewis Hamilton. It was his first ever F1 test, his second run at Silverstone, and I realised this guy is very, very fast.” De la Rosa further added that the moment stayed with him. “I’ve seen a lot of drivers in my life. I’ve been with very good drivers and I feel very honoured because of that. But when I saw Lewis, I thought, wow, this is very special.” That immediate impression was then backed up by an extraordinary level of preparation. Before his Formula 1 debut in Australia 2007, Hamilton completed 1,933 laps of testing, covering 8,967.8 kilometres. For comparison, he raced only 1,037 laps covering 5,018 kilometres across the entire 2007 season. In other words, Hamilton had already covered nearly two times a full season’s race distance in a Formula 1 car before lining up for his first Grand Prix. That mileage came across five major test venues: Silverstone, Jerez, Catalunya, Valencia and Bahrain. Figures like these are difficult to imagine in modern Formula 1, where testing is heavily restricted and drivers rely on limited free practice running, older cars and a small number of official filming and test days. So yes, by the time the lights went out in Melbourne, Lewis Hamilton WAS ready for Formula 1. But what no amount of testing could fully prepare him for was... sharing a garage with the reigning two time world champion, Fernando Alonso. The season that followed explains why his rookie year is remembered the way it is.