10-11 June 2006 GP2 Series
The mainstream audience was several months out from learning Lewis Hamilton’s name. But those attending the 2006 British Grand Prix got a taste of what was surely coming to Formula 1. After several years of dominance by Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, ticket sales had been on the wane and many in the crowd had at least one eye on footballing matters in Germany where, on the Saturday, England faced Paraguay in the first Group B game of the FIFA World Cup.
“Genius” was how our sister magazine Autosport described Lewis’s outstanding drives in the two GP2 Series races which formed the top of the supporting programme at Silverstone that year. “On a weekend when World Cup fever swept across the home of British motor racing, his dominance put the focus firmly back on the track and was further proof that here is a star in the making.”
In the longer feature race on Saturday, Lewis started alongside fellow Brit Adam Carroll on the front row, seized the lead from the polesitter at Copse – the first corner in those days – and remained in front despite three Safety Car periods, crossing the line 5s ahead of Timo Glock. It was a performance that would linger longer in the memory than England squeaking past Paraguay courtesy of a Carlos Gamarra own goal.
But it was Sunday’s sprint race which inked Lewis in as
