Lewis Hamilton's possible debut in Williams: what didn't work | FormulaPassion

Debut in McLaren

The career of Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1 he reached his highest points at the wheel of Mercedes, with which he won six of his seven world titles between 2014 and 2021, with the exception of the 2016 world championship lost in the internal challenge with Nico Rosberg. Yet, the history of the British in Circus it had begun with the McLarenwith that same team that had him supported by the preparatory categories until entering F1 in 2007immediately coming close to the world championship before climbing to the top of the world in 2008 by the skin of their teeth in Brazil.

Growing up in Woking

Since he was young, therefore, Hamilton has always been close to McLaren, as evidenced by the promotion of the former Team Principal Ron Dennis in the development program for young drivers of the Woking company in 1998. Little is known, however, of a rupture that occurred between the family of the future F1 driver and the team itself, such as to momentarily compromise relations between the parties and bring the English promise to another compatriot team, with which he could then make his debut in F1: the Williams.

The crisis

It all happened at end of 2004, with Lewis' father, Anthony, who pushed for his son's promotion to GP2, contrary to the wishes of Dennis, who instead preferred the driver's stay in the Formula 3 Euro Series after his rookie season. Such a harsh contrast that Martin Whitmarshthen CEO of McLaren, arrived at tear up Hamilton's contract. A gesture that pushed his family to negotiate with Williams.

The negotiations

The approach was confirmed years later by Patrick Headco-founder of the Grove team, who explained the reasons that did not allow Hamilton to move to Williams: “They called and asked if they could come visit us – he said, as reported by racingnews365.com – they came in and said: 'Ron Dennis has left us'. At the time we were with the BMWand I think Frank Williams called Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director) and told him: 'Look, this guy seems to be pretty good and he came to us asking if we can help him.' I think Mario answered that they were unwilling to provide any support and that we were not in a position to be able to fund his races. Much to Frank's annoyance, he could have had Lewis in Williams.”.