Hamilton overjoyed -
JORGE GUERRERO / AP / SIPA
Lewis Hamilton became the record holder for F1 wins in Portugal on Sunday at 35.
20 years ago, the young Lewis was walking in a karting competition at Paris-Bercy, which
20 Minutes
tells you.
The joys of auto-play youtube.
As we were recovering from one of Lewis Hamilton's 92 Grand Prix victories, a new record in Formula 1 history, the magic algorithm sends us straight to a small nugget.
"Lewis Hamilton wins the Elf Masters final 2000, Paris Bercy".
Image not super sharp, old Eurosport logo that reminds us of our sad teenage afternoons watching snooker without understanding the rules, but real treasure: one of the first televised races of the future best pilot in history, and in Paris in addition.
We see the very young Lewis Hamilton, 15, slaughtering pilots four or five years older than him in the ELF Masters hopeful race, a competition organized at the Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy from 1993 to 2001. Story-telling a bit easy, the explosion in front of the general public of a perfectly unknown kid who was to become the star of his sport.
Bruno Besson, long in the duel with Hamilton in the race, puts all this in context:
“He had just been crowned world and European kart champion and came with his own mechanic, his own tub,” he says.
We, with a whole clique of French people in our twenties, had switched to single-seater cars and it had been a few years since we had stopped karting.
We had been invited but we were mostly there to have fun, we went out in the evenings.
He was already the 'little protégé', everyone knows the story… ”
Not sure, so we do it again in three words: little prodigy behind the wheel, Hamilton was invited to a gala dinner at age 9 where he met Ron Dennis, the big boss of the McLaren team.
The latter promises him to finance his career if the boy continues to shine in the kart, which does not take long to happen.
So when he arrives at Bercy at 15, he arrives with sponsors, a team and a reputation.
Bruno Besson:
“It was very small, all reserved, but it was already a machine, what I call computer pilots, where everything is programmed for them and you already know that it will go a long way.
Drivers like that, when they are young kart champions, which they then go up to in Formula Renault, their destiny is all mapped out, they are of the caliber of fighter planes.
Wherever they go they are easy, with an above average steering wheel they have it all.
"
It is therefore with the sign that Hamilton finds himself on the starting line at Bercy.
But it was nevertheless Besson who had the best qualifying times.
In the final, the two men beat each other at the head of the race.
Finally, especially Besson.
“He was mega faster than me, laughs the French driver, now a trainer.
It was a phenomenon, above the rest.
I managed to take pole I don't know how, but the kid he was in karting, that was his thing, it was sure and certain that he would pass.
I did well until the halfway point, but I didn't know it wasn't going to last 15 years, I was tightening the ropes all over the place.
"
It did not fail.
Hamilton passes and Besson is even ejected from the podium after a collision.
Asked at the time about his Parisian weekend, Hamilton had not given the impression of having forced too much either.
“I wanted to win, but I also wanted to give the audience a bit of a show, so I stayed second for a little while before I went through and won.
It wasn't that hard to win.
"
Confident, the kid.
“He is right, there is no need to say it, retains Bruno Besson.
I met him again later in the paddocks, he's a very simple person, not at all arrogant.
Real champions are sure of themselves, they have nothing to fear.
"
This weekend, the French pilot still kept it in mind.
Proof that something had happened at Bercy.
“I think about it from time to time, and people like to room me with that: I did the pole in front of him and I did not have exactly the same career behind.
"
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