Mosley in awe of Hamilton's success

Hamilton currently leads the world championship by 14 points, and his remarkable results have continued on home ground with a last-gasp pole position for the British Grand Prix.

Mosley has welcomed Hamilton's arrival in F1, but admitted it was hard to accept that a rookie driver is doing this well.

"He is a phenomenon because it just doesn't happen," said Mosley. "Nobody comes into F1, gets in a car, even the most competitive car, gets on the podium at every race, always starts in the first four of the grid, and finishes ahead in the points of the double world champion of the previous year. It simply doesn't happen.

"And the fact that it has happened is a phenomenon. It is something absolutely new, and we are all trying to get used to it.

"But what I can say is that it is brilliant for F1 because it brings an interest in the sport to a whole lot of people that probably never even thought about it before."

Mosley compared the impact Hamilton is making to that which Muhammad Ali had on boxing.

"I think you see this occasionally in all different sorts of sports," he explained. "You get somebody who is a phenomenon.

"You go back 40 years and you look at someone like Muhammad Ali for example and people like that.

"It is great for any sport. It broadens the appeal. It is good. We are delighted and we just hope he can keep it up."