F1’s international observers have eventually joined the British press in heralding McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton as a grand prix superstar of the future.
Paddock praise knew no bounds at Albert Park on Sunday afternoon after the 22-year-old Englishman, making his formula one debut in Australia, almost mirrored the performance of his world champion teammate Fernando Alonso and finished on the podium.
“Hamilton announces his arrival in fast lane,” declared the Daily Telegraph headline.
The Herald: “Hamilton — a racing certainty to be champion”. Melbourne’s Herald Sun: “Dream start for boy wonder”.
The Times called Hamilton a ‘marketing man’s dream’ and predicted a career in parallel with David Beckham, while F1 greats including Sir Stirling Moss and Niki Lauda rolled out unprecedented plaudits.
“I’ve never seen anybody come into formula one and drive such a perfect race, especially with a hard competitor like Alonso driving the same car,” Austrian Lauda, a triple world champion, said.
Even the most conservative observers at least had to compare Hamilton’s performance with the podium debut of Jacques Villeneuve (1996), while the headline of the Spanish newspaper ‘Diario As’ said “England goes crazy about Hamilton”.
