Hamilton and Vasseur recall GP2 title and 'most impressive race ever', 20 years on

As Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren is perched inside its pole position box at Monza, a 21-year-old Lewis Hamilton peers into the distance as he accompanies team boss Ron Dennis onto the starting grid of the 2006 Italian Grand Prix.

Staring into the distance towards Monza's tight Turn 1, Hamilton is visualising what it would be like in 2007, being on pole in Formula 1 for the team he has been affiliated with since the karting days.

The day before, Hamilton clinched the GP2 Series title following a tumultuous campaign that featured hardship, a ripped up McLaren contract and two mesmerising weekends in Silverstone and Istanbul that introduced the British youngster to the world.

Hamilton's team principal at the time is also his current one. Now at Ferrari, Fred Vasseur joined forces with Nicolas Todt to morph his French ASM team into ART Grand Prix, racing across the FIA single-seater ladder when McLaren-backed Hamilton crossed paths with him, racing for Manor in Formula Renault and Formula 3.

Hamilton didn't take long to make a lasting impression by finishing fourth in the F3 Euro Series as a rookie. But when the new GP2 Series was announced to replace F3000 as the final stepping stone to F1, Hamilton and his father-manager Anthony were keen to move straight up.

When recently asked by Autosport about his recollection of that period, the now seven-time world champion recalled: "It was an interesting period of time for me in my life. I was, as every young kid, in a rush to get to Formula 1, hoping that I could potentially get there and never knowing when that chance would come.

Lewis Hamilton, ART Grand Prix

Photo by: Ebrey / Motorsport Images

"I would call Martin [Whitmarsh] every week asking him when I can get in the car. In 2005, when GP2 came out, I was pushing to go because I thought there's an opportunity to win it in the first season, being that it was a new class."

McLaren wanted him to stay in F3 for another year, though, leading to director Whitmarsh tearing up Hamilton's contract. Hamilton called the episode "one of the most challenging periods of my life". But alongside Vasseur's team, he did what McLaren asked for: develop as a driver by dominating the competition in F3. "I managed to get to the next races in Formula 3 and won them and got the contract back," Hamilton said.

His impressive F3 Euro Series title in 2005 with 15 wins and 13 poles from 20 races made Vasseur realise he had a special talent on his hands. ART had just won the inaugural GP2 title with Hamilton's old karting friend - and rival - Nico Rosberg, so it was an easy decision to stay with the team in 2006.

"I remember the first test with Fred in Jerez," Hamilton said. "Coming back in and seeing his reaction, he was obviously really positive. I knew that everything he saw would go back to Ron."

Given Hamilton's devastating F3 form, Vasseur was expecting a similar outcome in 2006. "I was convinced that we would do well in GP2 because we won the championship with another rookie with Nico," Vasseur told Autosport. "But it was a bit more difficult because we were changing from slick to grooved tyres. It was not an easy step between F3 and GP2. In GP2, testing and track time are limited compared to F3.

"We struggled at the beginning of the season, we were far away. I remember Imola was tough, when Lewis was disqualified for overtaking the safety car. We lost a lot of points on [Nelson] Piquet [Jr]. But after three or four races we started to win and he went on a mega run."

Nelson Piquet Jnr. Piquet Sports

Photo by: FIA Formula 2

Hamilton started taking charge with wins in Germany and Monaco, but it was his home weekend in Silverstone that really stood out as he passed Piquet to complete a sweep of wins, including the reverse grid race. However, three weekends later Piquet retaliated in Hungary as Hamilton struggled with a brace of crashes, opening the door for a title showdown.

"After Silverstone, it wasn't official that he would go to F1. I knew, I don't know if he knew," Vasseur recalled. "We arrived in Budapest and it was a proper disaster. He crashed on lap one in free practice, lap one in qualifying. We had to go to the stewards. It was a very difficult weekend."

But Hamilton bounced back in Turkey, the penultimate race weekend of the season, and truly announced his arrival to the motorsport world. Spinning on lap two of the sprint race with a low-drag set-up, Hamilton set off for an extraordinary comeback, slicing through the field with precision, including a pass on Piquet. Hamilton finished second behind Andreas Zuber to halt his rival's momentum in the championship.

"It was a special race to come back from that spin," Hamilton said. "That year was mega!"

To this day, Vasseur still calls Hamilton's Istanbul comeback the greatest performance he's ever seen on a race track. "Turkey was, I would say, the most impressive race that I saw in my life," the Frenchman insisted. "With Lewis we had this feeling on the pit wall that nothing could happen to him. In 15 laps he overtook everybody, but we were always relaxed. It was the most impressive race that I saw."

Hamilton tied up the title early at the Monza series finale, and the rest, as they say, is history. But when asked 20 years later about his standout memory from the year, Hamilton says it was that Monza grid walk with Dennis as he realised Raikkonen's car would be his the following year.

"I will just always remember standing with Ron in Monza on the grid in front of Kimi's car," Hamilton said. "That was the moment my life really changed."

Kimi Raikkonen, 2006 Italian GP

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images

Vasseur eventually went on to F1 too, first with Renault and then Sauber before a move in 2023 to Ferrari, where he proved instrumental in signing Hamilton to rekindle their working relationship.

But as a true racer, Vasseur clearly reflects on his ART days with fondness, from dominating the pivotal F3 Euro Series to taking the nascent GP2 Series by storm with Rosberg and Hamilton. All with a much smaller team, far from the spotlight and political machinations of F1.

That string of success cemented ART as the benchmark team in the European single-seater scene for a number of years, bringing through future F1 drivers, including Paul di Resta, Romain Grosjean, Jules Bianchi and Nico Hulkenberg.

"We stayed like this for five seasons, perhaps," Vasseur reminisced. "Those first two GP2 seasons with Nico and Lewis were a game-changer for us, working with Williams and McLaren and so on.

"That was a good journey. A really good journey!”