Friday September 26th, 2003

McLaren-Mercedes' protege Lewis Hamilton stepped up from Formula Renault to Formula Three on Friday and immediately showed his talent with a fourth fastest time in practice for his debut at Brands Hatch this weekend.

McLaren chief Ron Dennis has groomed 18-year-old Hamilton for stardom since his karting days and the Briton confirmed his potential this year by following Kimi Raikkonen to Championship victory in British Formula Renault.

He has now moved into his Manor Motorsport team's Formula Three squad for the final round of the Formula Three season and is confident of a good result after his first run in the category.

"The way it went I think we could have been fastest today," said Hamilton. "It was good because straight from the go we were on the pace and I think we can expect a top five finish.

"McLaren have been steering things and after I won the Formula Renault title we decided it would be good to get a race in Formula Three before deciding on whether to enter the British or European championships with Mercedes next year."

Published at 17:01:06 GMT

Picked from the Bunch:	<<  Previous  |  Sep Index  |  The Grapevine |  Next  >>
(03-11-2005): Australian GP Paddock Gossip (03-09-2005): Greece Finds Site for Formula One Track (03-09-2005): Red Bull Set to Get Honda Engines in 2006 (03-08-2005): Schumacher in Line for Sporting Oscars (03-07-2005): Daily Grapevine Sunday Analysis - Australia

© 1995-2005 Kaizar.Com, Inc. Copyright & Terms